


Learning to Fly

by NAOA



Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Avengers Family, Child Abuse, Child Neglect, Cute, Domestic Avengers, Family, Feels, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Kid Clint Barton, Kid Fic, Past Child Abuse, Trust, Trust Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-08
Updated: 2020-01-09
Packaged: 2021-02-27 14:07:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 22
Words: 39,816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22178272
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NAOA/pseuds/NAOA
Summary: After a battle with AIM Clint is turned into a little boy, now the Avengers must learn to deal with a pint sized version of their team mate. deaged story!
Comments: 5
Kudos: 99





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was written from 2014-2015 and was my first de-aging fic.
> 
> There are twenty-two chapters written that I will be posting here, a couple a day.

It all happened so fast that no one was quite sure what had gone wrong. One second they were in the middle of a fight with AIM and the next second they were all blinded by a flash of light.

When the brightness faded there was no trace of AIM and Steve breathed a sigh of relief. "They retreated." He said, lowering his shield and taking a moment to wipe the sweat from his forehead.

Next to him Iron Man dropped from the sky. "Do we know what they were after?" He asked, eyes roving the warehouse's interior. They had been notified of a break in in a shipping warehouse along the river. Once they had gotten there, they had found almost a dozen AIM agents attempting to loot the place.

Steve shook his head. "No idea. Who owns this warehouse?"

Iron Man consulted JARVIS. "Hank Pym."

"Someone should tell him his place was broken into."

"I'm sure he already knows." Next to them a box was thrown into the air by Natasha as she extracted herself from underneath a pile of crates.

"What was that flash of light?" She asked, eyes narrowed.

Tony flew to a box and then contacted JARVIS again. "JARVIS, get me Hank Pym on the line." He said. There was a moment and then the doctor's face appeared on the inside of his visor.

"Tony?"

"Dr. Pym, we just stopped some AIM guys from raiding one of your warehouses down on the water. Any idea what they were after?"

The doctor shook his head. "Nothing of value. The only thing I stored there was a canister of alternate dimension Pym Particles Reed Richards gave me."

"Think that's what they wanted?"

"Could be but I don't see why unless. . ." Hank's eyes wondered off. "No one came into any contact with them, did they?"

"I don't think so. . ." Tony looked around. "Hey, where's Hawkeye?"

"Did AIM get him?" Steve asked.

"JARVIS, scan for life signatures. There should be four."

"There are four sir." JARVIS answered while Hank waited patiently on the line. "Mr. Barton is lying underneath the pile of crates to your left."

Steve hurried over to the mess of crates and began pulling them away.

"Hank, where's the canister of Pym Particles?"

"I stored it in a corner. It's mixed in with a bunch of crates and empty canisters. It's got a black band around it."

Natasha began to look for it. "This is broken." She said, holding up a glass canister with jagged crack down it's side and a black band around the middle.

Tony switched his visuals with the doctor to a projector in his arm so Hank could see. "Is that it?"

Hank's face went white. "Not good." He said. "You need to make sure no one came into contact with any of the particles."

"What do they do?"

"Reed brought them back from an alternate universe for me to study. Instead of shrinking things and removing size matter like normal Pym Particles, they remove time. I tested them on lab mice and they reduced the mice you babies. I don't know what they'll do to a human, obviously I never tested them on a person but I suspect that it'll be the same thing."

"Found him. . . Tony?" Steve's voice broke off and Tony whirled around. Captain America had managed to extract Hawkeye from the pile of crates but the Hawkeye they had found was substantially different from the one they had expected. He was smaller and he was shrinking, fast. His features were changing, his cheeks filling out, legs shortening, fingers becoming smaller.

"Don't touch him!" Hank warned. "Don't come into contact with the particles until he stops aging."

"Is there a way to stop the process?" Tony asked sharply.

Hank was flipping through papers on his end, Tony could hear the pages turn. "A volt of electricity might stop it. They're highly volatile particles with short life spans when they're not dormant in containment. Do you have any way of shocking him?"

The boy in front of them had now regressed past the point of adolescence and was working on doing away with puberty.

Without hesitation Natasha bent and delivered a powerful shock to the boy from her Widow Bites. His body jolted and spasmmed but the aging slowed and after a few seconds stopped. Tony breathed a sight of relief as the final particles died. They were now left with a child no more than five or six years old. He lay still, breathing normally, face slightly flushed.

Tony cursed. "Did it work?" Hank asked urgently.

"Yeah. He's stopped."

Steve removed his glove and felt the boy's forehead. "He has a fever." He said.

"That's normal. The mice retained elevated temperatures for twenty four hours afterward. I don't know how long his will last but it should go away. He aged much slower than the mice. I can only calculate that to be because as a human he had more years to lose."

Natasha bent curiously and then drew away. "We should take him back to the tower. Dr. Pym, is this just a physical regression or will he mentally have regressed as well?"

"I don't know. I brought in a behavior specialist with the mice who was fairly certain they regressed mentally as well so I assume it will be the same with a human. . ."

Steve scooped the boy up and Natasha picked up the clothes that had fallen away. "Do you have a way to reverse this?" He asked.

There was the frantic flipping of pages on the other end of the connection. "Not yet but I'll get right on it. I'll contact Reed Richards too and see what he knows. Oh, and you should talk to Doctor Strange too. I don't know how much help he'll be since this isn't magic and all of Hawkeye's years should still exist in the universe inside of these Pym particles but I don't know if I can reach that universe through this one or if I can access it only through the universe Reed obtained them from. . ." They could hear pages turning and computer keys clacking. Hank broke off his rambling. "Point is he's stable and should be safe for now. Just take care of him until I can find a way to fix this."

"Keep us updated." Tony said, breaking contact. With Hank gone he swore. "Damn it. Alright, lets get him back to the tower before he wakes up."

They carried the boy to the jet and it was a smooth ride back. Clint did not wake but Natasha seemed concerned about fever. "It's getting worse." She said, touching the little boy's forehead lightly.

"Hank said it'll go away in a day." Steve said, he looked down at the boy and felt a surge of apprehension. Clint was small and there was a chance he wouldn't know any of them when he awoke. He had been trying to figure out how to tell such a small child why he was with a group of strangers and why he wasn't at home but nothing good had come to mind.

Awkwardly he ran a hand through his hair. "Er, what do you know about him as a kid?"

Natasha straightened up in her seat. They were in the back of the jet together looking over the boy while Tony piloted the plane. "He hasn't talked all that much about his childhood, to be honest. . ." She said carefully. "Mostly he laughs off serious questions."

Steve sighed. "What about Shield? What do they have on him?"

She gave him a long look before deciding that it was against common interest to pretend that she hadn't read all of their files. "His parents died when he was eight. He and his brother Barney were placed in an orphanage where they stayed for six years until both boys ran away and joined the circus."

Steve looked at Clint. "So at the age he is now, his parents are probably still alive."

"Yes."

"All okay?" Tony called over the intercom.

"We're fine. He's still out." Natasha said. She began to rummage through her back pack. "Drop me off at Sears. I'm going to pick him up some clothes." She began to change quickly. Steve averted his eyes.

"Good idea." Tony called. "Take my credit card. No limit. Spend to your heart's content."

She grinned briefly as she pulled a shirt on over her head. "You sure you mean that? 'Cause Sears has a summer sale on a pair of Diamond earrings that would go great with the dress I bought last week."

"I'll amend that. Spend to your hearts content on things that won't put me out of a house."

She laughed ad threw open the hatch door. "Like that could ever happen. We're here. Swing low."

"Sweet Chariot." Tony chimed before she jumped out onto the roof of the store. Steve closed the hatch and looked back at the boy. He hadn't moved. He went and sat down.

"You okay, Cap?"

"Yeah, just a little overwhelmed."

"Hank'll fix it. He a smart man and if he's got Reed Richards working with him then nothing can stop them."

"I hope not. Did you hear what Natasha said about his parents?"

"Yeah. We'll have to be careful what we tell him."

Steve nodded and sighed. This was going to be one heck of an adventure.

Thanks for reading!

Clint wakes up next chapter!


	2. Chapter 2

They took Clint back to Stark tower and Bruce gave him a quick once over.

"I can't see anything too terribly wrong with him." He said. "He's a little skinny and he's got a couple of bruises but he probably just got those in the fight."

"How old do you think he is?" Steve asked. They were in the living room talking. Tony had put Clint in a guest room down the hall and come to join them when Bruce was done with his examination.

Bruce cleaned his glasses. "At a guess? Five or six. I'm sorry I wasn't there by the way."

"Don't sweat it. The warehouse wasn't that big and the other guy is more of an outdoors sportsman anyway."

Bruce smiled a little. "I sent a message to Hank telling him how old Clint is. I don't know if it'll help him much but he said he'd send it on to Reed also."

Tony checked his phone. "Natasha says she should be back in about an hour. She also says thanks for telling her how old he is, says it helped with shopping."

"What are we going to tell him when he wakes up?" Bruce asked, sinking onto the couch.

"We could tell him one of us is his uncle." Steve suggested.

"What, his parents just dumped him with an uncle he's never met before? That's a terrible idea." Tony said.

Steve shrugged in acknowledgment. "Then I don't know. Do you want to say we're family friends?"

"That's terrible too but I guess it'll have to do. I can't think of anything that doesn't make us sound like kidnappers."

They were silent for a moment before a small noise sounded in the hallway. Tony whipped around in time to see a small figure creep out of the shadows.

It was an understatement to say hat Clint was smaller now; and the oversized t-shirt he was wearing didn't improve his stature. He looked at them with wide eyes and raised eyebrows, he looked so stunned that his expression might have been comical if the reality hadn't been so serious. He stared past Tony and Bruce to Steve who was sitting in an armchair next to the couch. For a split second Steve didn't understand why but then realized that he had failed to change out of his Captain America suit.

Tony seized advantage of the situation. "You ever wanted to meet Captain America, kid?" He said with a grin.

Slowly Clint shifted his gaze to Tony and then to Bruce and then back to Steve who offered his hand for Clint to shake it. The boy backed away and peaked around the door frame, still wide eyed. Steve smiled as best he could.

"Hey buddy," Tony said, crouching down. Clint's eyes shot to him. "My names' Tony, yours is Clint, right?"

If anything the boy's eyes grew bigger. He glanced at Steve again.

Tony grin strained a little bit. "Do you want to say 'hi' to him?"

Clint bit his lip before stepping out of the hall. He gave a small wave to Steve who smiled and waved back. Then Clint looked up at Tony. "Where am I?" He asked in a small voice.

Tony faltered. "Well, um. . . this is my house and. . ."

"It's kind of a vacation." Bruce cut in. "Like a summer camp."

The boy looked between them, looking as though he was having trouble understanding. Finally he looked at Steve. "This is a summer camp?" He asked.

The lie was half baked and sounded bad to every one in the room.

Steve felt his heart sink, he already knew this wasn't going to work. "Something like that." He said.

Clint gave him a long look but must have believed him because he came more fully into the room and stood with his back against the wall.

Tony twisted his face in rapid thought, eager not to lose the small beginning they had. "Are you hungry?" He asked.

Clint nodded, looking a little surprised at the change of subject.

"Great, follow me." At his words they all stood to follow and Steve offered his hand to Clint who gaped in awe at him but didn't take it. A little disheartened he drew it back but was at least a little warmed when the boy hugged close to him.

"What would you like?" Tony asked, once they were in the kitchen.

Clint shrugged, looking around.

"We've got some oven pizzas. Pizza okay?"

The boy nodded, pulling himself into a chair and resting his scrawny elbows on the table. Steve sat down next to him and watched Tony open the pizza boxes. Bruce sat down next and gave his attempt to smile.

Finally, Clint leaned in to Steve like he had a secret to tell. "This isn't really a summer camp, is it?" He whispered.

Steve glanced at Bruce and Tony. Bruce he knew had read the boy's lips and was looking to him for an answer. Finally Steve tried for a more honest approach. "No, it's not but we're going to get you home. Don't worry."

Clint looked very serious. "Are you gonna call my parents?" He asked.

Bruce shifted. "Can you give us their number?"

Clint looked at the pizza. "Can I eat before you call them?"

With a frown Bruce nodded. "Of course."

Clint rested his head on his arms and watched the pizza cook, he still looked a bit peaked and Bruce recommended that they get him back to bed after he ate.

Natasha came in not long after to find them all eating silently. Clint jumped when he saw her and put down his piece of pizza.

Tony swallowed a mouth full and looked up. "What'd you get?" He asked.

She glanced at Clint who was biting both of his lips together and watching her nervously. "What's important." She said. "Oh and you know, I somehow ended up buying a pair of heels. I Don't know how they fell into my bag but they were there when I checked out and I didn't have a chance to stop the cashier. Here's your credit card by the way." She tossed in onto the empty plate in front of Tony.

To everyone's surprise, Clint let out a laugh and grinned before trying to hide his mouth with his hands.

Seizing the opportunity Tony played along. "Well lucky you kept the receipt then."

"Oh and about that, the darn thing blew away from me when I was getting into my cab."

"Tragic."

"Not really, they're Armani." She set down her shopping and took a seat, winking at Clint.

The boy smiled at her shyly as Tony wiped off his credit card. "My poor baby, what has she done to you?" He muttered.

"So, our guest has woken then?" Natasha interrupted, taking a slice of pizza.

"Clint, this is Natasha." Bruce said.

"Nice to meet you little one." She said with an unusually warm smile.

He gave her another shy smile but didn't speak.

When they finished eating Clint spoke again. "Are you gonna call my parents?" He asked. Throughout dinner he had remained relatively quiet, they had gotten a few more laughs out of him but that was about it so far. Mostly he stayed silent and listened. Steve had had the impression several times that the boy had wanted to say something and as dinner was ending was trying to figure out a way to encourage him to talk.

"Would you like us to now or would you rather we wait until tomorrow?" Bruce asked.

It was a strange question, Steve thought.

Clint shrugged and Bruce leaned forward. "We don't have to do it tonight." He said kindly.

Clint looked up hopefully. "Can you do it tomorrow."

"Sure. Can you write down your home number?"

They gave him a pad of paper and a pen and Clint handed it back with a telephone number. There was really no point in calling, if the number wasn't disconnected it probably belonged to someone else by now. Still they took it anyway.

"Well, what do we do now?" Tony asked. Steve glanced at his watch. It was only seven o'clock.

"I think Clint should clean up and head to bed." Bruce said, watching as the boy put his head in his arms again.

Natasha took that as her cue to take charge. "Come on little one." She said. "I bought you some pajamas and some clothes for tomorrow."

He followed her out of the kitchen with a last look over his shoulder at the others. In the hall, Natasha scooped up her shopping and lead the boy to his room. "You should brush your teeth and take a bath." She said.

He nodded sluggishly and turned into the bathroom to do as he was told. Towards the end of dinner the fever had begun to weigh him down but if Hank Pym was correct then it would be cleared up by the next day. She lay out a set of pajamas and a pair of shorts for him and then went to find him putting up his toothbrush.

"Do you need any help with the shower?" She asked.

He shook his head and turned on the spigot.

"Okay." She left him to it and went back to the kitchen to find Bruce, Tony and Steve sitting around the kitchen table. "Natasha," Bruce said, welcoming her. She sat down. "Is everything alright?"

She nodded. "He's taking a quick shower."

"That's good."

"He seems so shy." Steve said, almost thoughtfully.

"Yeah, I never imagined the guy would be such a quiet kid." Tony said, sitting back down.

Bruce seemed troubled. "I wonder. . ." He shook his head. "Anyway, Hank got back to me a few minutes ago. He's at the Baxter building with Richards and they're working on a cure."

"That's good. Cute kid though." Tony said, almost fondly.

Steve glanced at him amusedly.

At that point Natasha excused herself to go and check on Clint whom she found climbing into bed. The boy actually slipped down when he saw her. "I didn't mean to startle you, little one." She said, watching him right himself.

She helped him settle into bed and turned to leave. "Will you be alright by yourself?" She asked.

His head poked out from under the covers and he nodded.

"Alright then, good night."

Out in the hall she chided herself. All the training in the world and she had no idea how to handle a child.


	3. Chapter 3

Clint awoke the next morning feeling much better but panic returned quickly when he remembered that he wasn't at home, sure the people from the night before had seemed nice enough which was a nice break from his father's mean looks and words but it didn't change the fact that he didn't know where he was. It scared him.

He lay in bed and looked at the clock. It was only five in the morning, he didn't know if that was too early to get up and so he stretched out. The bed was nice and warm. A double. At home he only had a twin. He liked it, even though it wasn't his.

He thought about the people he'd met. He liked Natasha, she was pretty and had been nice to him. He liked Tony too, he thought he was a very funny person. He also liked Bruce, or he thought he might if he could figure out more about him. His mind drifted to Captain America. He had messed that up. He hadn't been able to say a word when he first met him. He squeezed his eyes shut. He felt stupid. Captain America must think I'm an idiot! He thought. Maybe he was, his dad told him he was stupid all the time. The thought turned his stomach. His dad would be so mad at him when he got home. He curled into the bed covers. Maybe he could talk to Captain America, ask him to talk to his dad. Ask him to ask his dad to be nicer. He liked the idea. He would do it.

Sometime in his thoughts he drifted back off to sleep again and was woken an hour later by a disembodied voice. "Good morning Mr. Barton, breakfast is being prepared in the kitchen and the others are awaiting you presence."

Clint nearly jumped out of the covers. He looked around but could find no one.

"I'm sorry, my name is JARVIS. I am Tony Stark's personal AI. I am a computer program centered in Stark Tower. I have no physical form. I do hope that will not be a problem."

Clint relaxed slowly. Tony was pretty rich, so he probably had a pretty fancy computer. He didn't understand completely but somehow it made sense. Plus he thought he had seen something like that in a movie once.

He made his way to the kitchen, still in his pajamas. He would talk to Captain America as soon as he could. His parents had listen to Captain America.

Steve was finishing his second bottle of water after his morning his run just as Clint entered the kitchen. They had decided to make a fake call that morning. It was the best they could do. They would tell Clint that his parents were glad he was safe and tell him that he was going to spend a little time with them. It was the best they could come up with and as Tony had said, was an awful story.

Steve smiled as brightly as he could when Clint entered the room. "Morning." He said.

Clint gave him a small smile that looked more troubled than anything else and climbed into the chair he'd used the night before. He looked around and was invited to a bowl of cheerios. They were the adult kind but he didn't seem to mind.

"Are you feeling better?" Bruce asked.

The boy nodded.

"Would you mind if I felt your forehead?"

Clint shook his head and remained still for Bruce to check his temperature. "Much better."

Clint smiled a little and finished his cheerios. All throughout the meal he remained looking anxious and high strung, it was almost painful to watch the concentration with which he ate his cereal

After breakfast he tugged on Steve's sleeve nervously. Steve looked down and smiled. "What's up?" He asked.

Clint swallowed. "Can I talk to you?"

Blinking, Steve nodded. "Sure."

Clint glanced around. "Out there?" He motioned towards the hall with his head.

Confused, Steve stood and lead the way out. "Anything wrong?" He asked, worried.

Clint licked his lips and stood still. "Are you guys gonna call my parents soon?" He asked.

"Of coarse." Steve felt guilty lying to the boy, especially when he was supposed to be his team mate.

"C-can you talk to my dad for me?"

"Well sure, what do you wan me to say?" Steve gave him a kind smile; whatever Clint wanted him to say, it seemed very important to him and he wanted to be as encouraging as he could.

Clint twisted the hem of his shirt. Now that he had the chance to ask, he didn't want to. What if Steve got mad at him for asking? "Um, can you ask him to be nicer to me?" He hung his head. "You're Captain America and he has to listen to you!" The words came tumbling out now faster. "Maybe you could ask him to not yell so much and maybe not hit as much. . . maybe not hit me or my brother. You're Captain America and you're bigger than him, so he can't pick on you. Maybe you can make him be nicer. . ." He stopped short and ducked his head lower "B-but you don't have to. . . i-if you don't want to." His voice caught in his throat and he stopped talking.

Steve felt his lips part silently and a wave of cold fell over him. He had not been expecting that. "Clint. . ." The boy looked so upset his heart hurt. He looked angry and ashamed and sacred. Steve felt anger rise in his chest. Of all the things he had been prepared for, he hadn't even considered something like this. "Clint, does your father hit you a lot?" He asked gently.

Clint dug his toes into the floorboards and nodded, biting his lip. He looked up hesitantly and to Steve looked ashamed. Steve knelt and put his hands on the boy's skinny shoulders, they flinched under his touch. "Clint, if your father hits you then I don't think it's a good thing for us to call him. Would you be okay with staying here for a while?"

"What, like the services" The confusion on his face had the painfully doubling effect of making him look very innocent.

Steve swallowed. "A little like that."

"What about Barney, could he stay here too?"

Steve hesitated, wherever Clint's brother was, he was grown up and didn't need them. "We'll send someone to find him. Okay?" Another lie and Steve felt sick. He was angry with himself now too.

Clint nodded and smiled a little bit. "I bet Barney will be really excited to meet you." His voice was low and maybe a little tired. It looked like his request had had an emotionally draining effect.

Steve gave a weak smile. "I'm not that special." He said.

Clint gave him a disbelieving look that broke through his misery. "So you'll talk to him?" He asked hopefully.

"Yes but how about first we get you settled here for a while?"

The boy smiled a little more, having Captain America on his side definitely improved his spirits. "Okay." This time when Steve offered him his hand to lead him back into the kitchen, Clint took it with only a moment's hesitation.

Steve felt his muscles tighten. He wasn't sure what they were going to do now. One thing was for sure, he had to let the others know before any misunderstandings arose.

As soon as breakfast was finished and Clint went off to get dressed he cleared his throat.

Tony looked up from where he had been messaging Hank Pym. "What up, Cap?"

Steve hesitated for a moment. "Earlier when Clint asked me to speak to him in the hall he asked me to talk to his father. . . he told me. . . he told me his father hits him and asked me to make him stop." Bruce shifted uncomfortably and Tony looked at Natasha who frowned. "I told him that if his dad hits him then he should stay with us for a while and he asked if we were child services. Did anyone know about this?"

Natasha gave them all defensive looks. "I suspected some things." She said reluctantly.

"If he never told you then it's not your fault for not knowing." Bruce said softly. He folded his hands on the table. "I guess this explains the bruises he had when I first examined him. I was hoping they were from the crates you said fell on him."

Tony set aside his phone and sighed. "I'll have JARVIS look into child service records for Barton and see if I can't have someone track down his brother."

"He asked me if his brother could stay here too. I told him someone would look into it."

"Well that'll be tricky."

There was silence for a minute and then Natasha sighed. "Someone should give Thor a heads up. He's due back in a day or two."

"I'll message him." Tony said, picking back up his phone.

They sat for a moment more. Then Natasha stood and walked out of the room. She walked stiffly, her own demonstration of upset.

"I wonder how much she actually knew." Tony said putting his phone down.

Bruce frowned at him. "If she didn't say anything then it's probably because she was trying to respect Clint's privacy."

Tony was quiet for a moment, weighing the view point before he took a drink of coffee and nodded. "Yeah."

Steve sighed. "I feel bad for him." He said. "He looked so upset out in the hall. I wish I had known."

"It would have been easier if we'd all known from the beginning." Tony said, pulling up his phone. "I'm gonna go hack his child service records. I'll let you know if I find anything." He stood and left the room. Bruce followed after, saying he was going to go work on a blood sample he'd taken from Clint the day before.

Feeling slightly useless, Steve sighed and went to find the boy. He was glad that Clint seemed to feel safe with him but wasn't happy that it was just because he was Captain America. He wanted Clint to trust him for who he was, not as an icon.

He knocked and found Clint in his bedroom tying his shoe laces. "How're you doing, kiddo?" he asked.

Clint looked up and there was a very serious look on his face. "Did you call him?"

Steve felt his heart sink. He had to lie to the boy again. "Yeah, I did." He came and sat next to Clint on the bed. "I told him that if he hit you or your brother again he'd have to deal with me."

Clint bit his lip. "Was he mad?"

"He was a little mad but he can't hurt you while you're here."

The boy clenched a fist around his blanket. "How long do you think I can stay here?" He asked in a very small voice.

"Well, I don't know but I think for now as long as you want to."

"And you're gonna get Barney too?"

God this was difficult and it hurt too. "Yeah, we're gonna get him."

"Okay, cause it's worse when there's just one of us."

Steve looked down at the boy, feeling crestfallen. "Doesn't your mother do anything?" He asked, trying not to sound pleading.

Clint looked down and Steve realized that he was hiding his face because there were tears in his eyes. "No." He said softly. The even more softly he said: "I don't think she really cares. She's not mean but she doesn't do anything to stop him. Barney says she doesn't care and he's usually right."

Steve gently reached out and put an arm around the boy's shoulder. Clint stiffened and looked up with a startled expression. He blinked and Steve smiled at him, trying to cheer him up. Clint sniffed but didn't cry. He leaned against Steve for a minute and then puled away.

Steve gave him a gentle pat on his back and smiled. "So, what do you want to do today?" He asked.

Clint shrugged, sniffing. "I dunno."

"Well, what do you do for fun?"

Clint shrugged again. "Sometimes I go over to my friend's house. My friend Tommy doesn't live too far away."

Steve frowned, he still wasn't sure how old Clint was at this age. What did little boys do in the modern world? He thought back on his own childhood. When he had been this young he had been sick almost all of the time. But when he wasn't, he had played in the street with the other boys. They'd played games and kicked balls between them, they'd played with just about anything they could find and had pretend sword fights with sticks. A lot of the time he had been too sick to play but he'd always watched the others and sometimes he had sat on his front steps and cheered the others on, just to be part of the game. He thought of toys. Toys now were very fancy, they lit up and made noise and some moved on their own. His toys had been much simpler. Toy cars, a toy airplane (the propeller had moved when he twirled it!), he'd had jacks and a teddy bear and a a few puzzles. His favorite toy had been a set of little metal soldiers. On days when he'd been too sick to get out of bed he'd lain there pretending his knees were mountains the soldiers had to climb. He smiled thinking about it.

Clint looked at him curiously."Why are you smiling?" He asked.

"Oh nothing." Steve said, laughing a little. "Do you want to go to the store and pick out a toy or something?"

Clint bit his lip. "Can I keep it?" He asked.

Steve nodded. "Of course."

"Okay."

He smiled again. "Great, grab your coat and lets go." He left Clint to find his new coat and went to get his own. Before returning he stopped to call Tony. "Hey," He said. "I'm gonna take Clint out to get him a few toys. We might get lunch depending on how long we're out."

There was a bang on the other end as Tony put something heavy down and then a throat cleared. "Okay. Keep an eye on him though, we don't know too much about what he's like as a kid. He could take off or something"

"I'll watch him."

"Oh, and take my credit card. I'll pay for the stuff. Just don't come back with any heels. Armani or otherwise."

Steve chuckled. "I'll try. Thanks."

"No problem."

He returned to Clint's room to find the boy dressed and ready, swinging his feet on the bed. "You all set?" He asked.

Clint nodded and hopped off the bed, following him down stairs

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> Next chapter Steve takes Clint shopping.


	4. Chapter 4

They took a cab to the store. Clint was quiet for most of the ride and stared out the windows with wide eyes and a sometimes gaping mouth. He had probably never seen a city as big as this one, Steve thought.

"This is New York." He said with a grin.

"Wow!" Clint breathed, when he finally stopped trying to press his face against the window and sat down. "Did you mean it? Are we really gonna buy toys?" He looked both excited and nervous.

"Of course I meant it."

Clint bit his lip. "Dad always yells at me when I try to go down the toy isle." He looked bitter. "He says I have enough toys but they're mostly Barney's old toys and he broke most of them."

Steve frowned. "Well then it's a good thing we're gonna get you some knew ones."

Clint shrugged like he was trying to say it didn't matter but he looked sad and a maybe little angry at the memory. "What can I get?" He asked suddenly.

Steve had to think, the file they had gotten had said Clint was born in '71 but the toys they had in the 70's were a little different than what people had now. "What would you really like?" He asked.

Clint thought for a moment. "My friend Tommy has a Lite Brite and that's really cool but it's probably expensive." He mumbled the last part and hung his head.

Steve laughed. "Tony gave us his credit card and said we could buy whatever we wanted so long as we didn't get any shoes."

Clint laughed a little, remembering Natasha's stiletto escapade. "Okay."

Quickly Steve texted Tony. He honestly hated texting, it was convenient but he found it too impersonal. He asked what toys were popular in the 1970's and Tony texted back with a list of things he'd found on the internet and a few things he remembered. That helped a great deal. They had agreed that it was best not to overwhelm the boy with too much from the modern world. They didn't really want to tell him that it wasn't the 70s anymore. It would bring up too many questions they couldn't really explain and might frighten him.

They left the cab and entered a Toys R' Us. Steve was impressed by all the different toys. Not that they hadn't had a variety when he was a child but these were just so vastly different. Clint looked at the toy cars and trucks and then at a couple of wrestling figurines but didn't ask for anything.

Steve grabbed a cart and followed him as the boy wound his way through the isles. Eventually they found an isle with stuffed animals and Steve stopped to look at the Teddy bears. "Did you know that these are named after the first president Roosevelt? His name was Theodore and they called him 'Teddy'."

Clint wrinkled his forehead. "There were two?"

Steve chuckled a little and handed him a bear to look at. "Yeah, there were two. Would you like a teddy bear?"

The little boy looked at the bear for a long time before slowly taking it from Steve and feeling it's fur. It was not massively fluffy but Steve thought it was cute none the less. It even had a red ribbon around it's neck. Clint stared at the bear with a troubled look on his face. "I can have this?" He asked, sounding doubtful.

"Only if it's the one you want." Steve smiled.

Clint looked back up at the other bears and let his eyes travel the length of the shelf before returning to the bear in his hands. He nodded and handed it to Steve who smiling, put the bear in the baby seat of the cart. "Now, lets see if we can find you a Lite Brite." He honestly had no idea what a 'Lite Brite' was but the boy smiled hopefully.

They made their way to the front of the store and asked a staff member for help, she smiled brightly, and lead them to a section of electronics saying that it was in a line dedicated to more classic toys. A Lite Brite turned out to be an electric back light with little holes that colored pegs fit into. Clint licked his lips in excitement when he saw the box but he looked up at Steve before taking it off of the shelf. Steve nodded and smiled encouragingly.

"I've always wanted one of these!" Clint said excitedly. "I asked Santa for one for Christmas once but he didn't bring it. Barney said it's cause we weren't good enough. I think he might be right cause I get in lots of trouble."

Steve felt bad about that. He was sure that Clint was a good kid. So far he had been exceptionally well behaved, even better than the grown up Clint normally was. "Well now you've got one." He said, smiling again.

They walked for a bit more and picked out an Etch n' Sketch and a View Master and a couple of toy cars. Clint was careful not to ask for very much and Steve was glad he couldn't understand pricing yet. Not that anything he picked was too expensive but he was afraid that if the boy did he would pick even fewer things.

They enjoyed looking at the toys. Things like Slinkies fascinated Steve and he bought one on a whim, along with a baseball and glove and a couple of board games. He himself was delighted to find several toy cars shaped like Model Ts and a bucket of little green army men. He was also happy to find things like red wagons and yo yos were still popular with kids, it made him feel less disconnected with the modern world. He even bought a canister of Lincoln Logs when Clint said he did not know what they were. In a way it was nice because many of the things he bought he knew he would have enjoyed himself as a child.

The lady at the checkout counter was friendly and laughed with Steve. She smiled at Clint and told him she liked all of his toy choices, making him duck his head in embarrassment but Steve thought he might have been secretly pleased.

They stopped for lunch at McDonald's and it was there that Clint voiced his worry that they had spent too much. "Do you think your friend will be mad that we got so much?" He asked.

Steve shook his head. "Not at all. Tony has a lot of money and I think he sometimes likes to throw it around." Catching the boy's confused face he added. "That means he likes to spend money on people." Clint nodded wisely. "Anyway, I think he'll like the toys you picked."

The boy nodded again and chewed his cheeseburger thoughtfully. He had not asked for a happy meal which was a little odd but Steve had already noticed that the boy didn't ask for a lot. "Can I play with the stuff when we get back?" He asked.

"Sure. We have to put it away first but sure." Steve watched the child swing his legs and look around, he seemed to have relaxed astronomically since the night before. It made Steve happy, Clint was a pretty cute kid, especially when he wasn't chewing his lip in worry. Looking at him now, he was a skinny blond boy with a cowlick at the back of his head that seemed to be at perpetual war with the rest of his hair. He wondered again just how old Clint was, he had mentioned going to school once and so he was probably closer to six than five.

"Hey Clint," He asked when he finished his second burger. "How old are you?"

Clint looked at him in surprise. "I'm five but I'm almost six." He said, holding up five fingers. "How old are you?"

Steve laughed. "Pretty old. Pushing a hundred."

Clint's eyes grew comically wide. "Really?"

"Yep." He stretched and popped his back. "See? Old man bones." Clint grinned.

They finished their meal and returned to Stark tower at a little after noon. When they got there the only person they ran into was Natasha who was waiting in the kitchen. "Stark said you'd be back soon." She said, glancing at Clint. He looked up at her shyly. "did you get anything fun?" She asked.

Steve nudged the boy who shrugged. "Lets show her." He said, setting their shopping bags on the kitchen table.

Natasha made quite a show of being interested in their purchases. Most of it was played up, but she did seem genuinely interested in the can of Lincoln Logs and opened the can to fit several together. "How very American." She laughed.

"I think that's the point." Steve said, point at the label and helping her assemble a small house on the table. Clint watched them curiously, he had never seen adults play with toys before but the two of them seemed very intent on their structure. He helped a little, taking turns with them to stack logs and when they were finished Steve let him put on the roof of the house. "Just like Abraham Lincoln himself." He added with a grin. Clint was happy to at least know about that president.

Natasha fingered the small figurines of a Union army officer and an Indiana, making them walk up to the front door. "Well, I think this is a good choice." She said, turning her attention to the Lite Birte and the Etch N' Sketch.

Clint smiled, happy that she liked them. "Y-you can play with them if you want." He offered.

She smiled, in amusement. "I may have to."

They took the toys to Clint's room and set them in a corner, depositing only the bear on the bed. Clint smiled at the bear a little and followed Steve out of the room.

They watched a kids movie for the rest of the afternoon. Robin Hood. Clint liked it, although he had seen it before. Steve enjoyed it too, not having seen it before.

When dinner time rolled around Tony and Bruce came into the living room to announce that Thor would be joining them after dinner. Clint was quiet, so far he knew Steve the best, which was something special because how many little boys could say Captain America himself had taken them shopping. He was still a little wary of Bruce and Tony though and he could only imagine what this guy Thor was like. He hoped he was like Steve.

Over dinner Tony asked him what toys he'd picked out and laughed loudly in appreciation. "Etch N' Sketch, always fun." He said. "I made blue prints of a motor engine on mine when I was five."

Clint smiled a little. "I always wanted one and Steve said I could have it."

"Tell him about the Lite Brite." Steve said, he had set the toy up to see how it worked before they started the movie and was thrilled with what he found.

"I can make Scooby Doo, Micky Mouse and Donald Duck." Clint counted on his fingers. "It came with these sheets to show me how."

"I'll give you some black construction paper," Bruce said. "That way you can make whatever you want."

Clint looked at him in surprise and smiled again. "Thanks!"

Bruce smiled, looking a little overwhelmed by the gratitude."You're welcome."

After dinner Natasha sent Clint to clean up and told him he would be able to meet Thor when he came back. Once the boy was out of ear shot she leaned forward over the table. "What did you find in his child service records?" She asked.

Tony frowned and sat back from the table. "I found a lot but almost all of it was from after he was eight. Like you said, Barton's parents died in a car accident when he was eight and he and his brother were put in foster care. The accident was attributed to his father's drunk driving. It looks like he and his brother were shipped around a lot after that, records say they had a knack for getting into trouble. Big surprise. After six years they disappeared. I couldn't find anything after that."

"They ran away and joined the circus." Natasha said quietly.

"Was there anything from before the car accident?" Bruce asked in a low voice he sounded almost upset.

"One or two visits from child services. Nothing was ever proven, a teacher alerted the authorities when Clint was five after he came to kindergarten with a black eye. Services asked his mother what happened and she said he was in a fight with his brother. There was another when he was seven where he missed two days of school and came back with a broken wrist but no hospital admission papers. That managed to get pushed aside too." Tony ran a hand through his hair. "I haven't managed to track down his brother yet but even if I do, I'm not sure contacting him is such a good idea. It looks like the two of them don't get along and his brother's been involved with a few crimes."

The four of them sat silently in their seats. Finally Bruce said: "I don't think we should tell Clint about his parents."

Natasha nodded. "The best thing we can do is get him back to normal. Have either of you heard from Richards or Pym today?"

Tony sighed. "Yeah, I got a call from Pym. He's trying to get as much done as he can but he's having a hard time replicating the particles."

Quite suddenly they were interrupted by a crash and a flash of lightning outside. "Thor." Tony muttered.

Well, thanks for reading.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter Clint meets Thor!


	5. Chapter 5

There was a knock on the living room window as Clint made his way back to the kitchen. He peered around the corner curiously, remembering that they were dozens of stories up. To his surprise he saw a man floating outside of the window. At first glance the man was huge and reminded him of one of his brother's wrestling figurines, he was certainly dressed up enough to be one.

The flying man looked back at Clint curiously and unlatched the window from the outside, stepping in with a grace that contrasted heavily with his large frame.

"Would you be the little Hawk?" The man asked in a booming voice.

Clint felt his eyes widen and he backed away, he didn't like people yelling and he had no idea what the large man meant. He shook his head qickly.

The man raised a large hammer and rested it on his shoulder looking puzzled. "But I was told that you were Clint Barton made young. Was I told wrong?"

Still confused and a little scared, Clint shook his head. "I'm Clint." He said in a small voice.

The large man broke into a broad smile and dropped to one knee with his palm outstretched. "Pleased to meet you little Hawk. I am Thor, may friendship blossom between us. "

Clint took a tentative step forward and shook the man's hand. Thor's large palm folded over his in a surprisingly gentle manner.

"Are you a wrestler?" Clint asked shyly.

With a look of delighted surprise Thor threw back his head and laughed. "Nay, I am the God of Thunder and though my armor may remind you of your television warriors, I assure you that I could best any of them within mere seconds."

Not really understanding what had been said Clint cracked a grin and laughed a little. "Are you friends with Captain America?"

"I am indeed friends with the good captain."

Again the boy grinned, not quite understanding but feeling the tightness in his chest unwind. Thor seemed much less scary when he spoke and again, if he was friends with Captain America then he had to be alright.

"Pray tell, where is the man as we speak?"

Clint cocked his head to the side. "What?"

"Where is the Captain?"

Clint waved behind him. "He's in the kitchen. Want me to show you?"

Thor smiled widely. "Lead the way, young Hawk!"

They set off down the hall, Clint glancing over his shoulder repeatedly to check and see if Thor was still in a good mood. So far the near giant of a man had retained his good humor.

In the kitchen Steve stood up from the table. "I'm gonna go see what's taking Thor so long." He said.

A second later Clint and Thor appeared in the hall. Steve was startled to see Clint looking so comfortable with the god. He had feared that Thor's imposing figure would frighten the child. Instead Clint seemed almost excited. They boy climbed up into his seat and looked at the others to see how they greeted Thor.

The god settled into a chair and folded his arms on the table. "How has earth fared in my absence?" He asked.

Tony shrugged. "Good as ever, I guess."

Thor laughed. "Wonderful. And how have you been, little Hawk?"

Clint jumped slightly at being addressed. "What? Oh um," He looked up at the others. "Steve took me shopping." He said quickly.

Thor smiled and his eyes twinkled with amusement. "I hope much was accomplished."

"We did pretty well." Steve said, leaning back in his seat. "Got some real neat stuff."

Clint smiled and glanced up at Thor. "I got some new toys." He said.

Thor smiled yet again. "Very good. Perhaps I shall carve you a toy of magnificent quality later. My own gift to you."

Clint's face flushed with excitement. "You can make toys?" He asked.

Thor's grin widened even further. "Aye and I shall show you."

Clint's face turned even redder and he thanked him. Steve smiled and without thinking brushed a hand over the boy's head. Clint flinched slightly and then looked up guiltily. "Sorry." He said. With deliberation Steve drew his hand back and gave Clint a smile, trying to tell him it was alright.

They talked for a bit more before the boy's head began to droop and he finally put it down on his arms and dropped off to sleep.

Steve stood and scooped the him up. "I'll take him." He said, adjusting Clint on his hip.

Thor smiled kindly at the boy. "The young Hawk has quite a spirit." His eyes lingered fondly on Clint's sleeping face and he reached a hand out to brush his fingers over the back of his head. Clint shifted slightly and nuzzled his cheek against Steve's shoulder.

Steve smiled and there was a flash as Tony snapped a picture on his phone. He blinked and turned away. "Alright, alright. Just remember, he might see that when he gets back to normal."

Tony grinned at the phone. "Oh, I'm counting on it."  
Steve carried Clint to his bedroom and deposited the boy on the bed while he stooped to pick up his pajamas. When he stood back up Clint had curled into the bed covers. With a small smile, Steve pulled off his socks, changed his shorts to pajama pants and with a little difficulty pulled the night shirt over his head. Clint mumbled something and then fell silent.

Pulling back the covers he slid the boy under and placed his new teddy bear next to him. Clint wrapped his arm around the bear and nestled in.

Steve drew back and couldn't help smiling again.

When he returned to the kitchen the others had filled Thor in on everything that had happened and the god was sitting with his fists clenched on the table. "Any man who would find pleasure in harming a child is no man at all." He said. "I should like to find the young Hawk's father and show him what true strength is."

"Gonna be kind of hard to do that." Tony said dryly. "He's dead."

Thor fell silent.

"Actually, I'm kind of surprised he wasn't scared of you." Steve said thoughtfully.

"When first we met he asked me if I was a wrestler. I assured him I could best any man he threw at me."


	6. Chapter 6

The next morning marked the third day since Clint had been turned into a child and Tony was unhappy to say that they were still no closer to finding a cure than they had been the first. Reed and Pym had gotten into an argument about how to recreate the alternate dimension Pym particles, Reed saying that it would be easier to go through a portal and get new particles the same way he'd gotten the fist batch and Pym saying that they had a better chance of understanding them if he recreated them himself.

The next morning was also the first morning Clint awoke not to find Captain America in the kitchen. Earlier that morning the Avengers had picked up a call requesting help in Wakanda and Tony, Bruce, Steve, and Natasha had rushed to the aid of Black Panther, leaving Thor to watch Clint. Thor had elected to stay behind himself, trusting the other could handle themselves and only a little sad to miss the action.

When Clint awoke he found the god in the kitchen sitting at the breakfast table. "Where's Steve?" He asked shyly. Now that it was just him and Thor he realized just how massive of a person Thor was.

Thor smiled widely and he felt his fears ebb. "Not to worry, Captain Rogers will be back before nightfall. He has traveled to the kingdom of Wakanda to do battle there."

Clint raised his eyebrows in worry. "Is he going to be okay?"

"I would count on it. Now, to breakfast. I have been told to give you cereal but I think a better breakfast might suit us both. I have asked friend JARVIS to order us two breakfast platters."

In no time at all a door bell rang and Thor, in perhaps an over dramatic display of ability unlatched the window and flew down to retrieve the food. Clint ran to the window and watched him descend and found himself laughing when the delivery boy jump about a mile in the air.

He returned to his seat so Thor wouldn't know he had been watching and waited with his hands folded. When Thor returned he smiled widely and took the lids off of two breakfast platters which he'd had sent from a local restaurant. "I myself do not find cereal an adequate meal." He said, setting down a portion in front of Clint that was far too big for him.

Clint dug in, eager to show his gratitude and Thor laughed heartily, copying him and eventually finishing both of their meals.

Once Clint had disappeared to get dressed Thor cleared the table and put away the boy's leftovers. He took a moment to think, it pained his to see a boy Clint's age so shy and timid yet he sensed that beneath the surface there was a curious and perhaps even adventurous child. He had caught a glimpse when he'd first arrived. In the excitement of thinking he'd met a wrestler the boy had been overcome by his excitement.

The others had said hey were impressed, so far he was the only person other than Steve that Clint seemed comfortable with. Bruce had wondered if that was because the two of them were somehow more fanciful to him. Steve he had recognized as Captain America and Thor he had initially believed to be a wrestler.

Thor frowned, gazing out the window, the boy had looked a little disappointed that morning when he saw that he was not dressed in his armor or his cape. He thought of changing back into them to cheer the kid up but thought the better of it. He wanted Clint to like him as the adult Clint did, for who he was, not because he looked like some Midguardian television figure.

He finished clearing out the breakfast plates and went to check on the boy. When he found him, Clint was sitting on the floor playing with his new Lite Brite. There were toy cars scattered around at his feet and the Etch N' Sketch was lying near by. He jumped a little when he felt Thor's shadow fall over him. And when he looked up, his face was worried. Thor smiled.

"I just came by to say that the Captain has recommended a park down the street and I thought we might visit around lunch time. It does not do well to stay indoors all day."

Still looking nervous Clint nodded. "Okay."

Thor lingered in the doorway for a moment, hoping he could get another smile out of the boy before he turned and left.

Clint relaxed once the door had closed. It wasn't that he didn't like Thor, but seeing him without his cape had made him realize how stupid he'd been to think the man was a wrestler. Still, Thor could fly and that was pretty neat. He absentmindedly pressed the little pegs into a sheet of black construction paper to make a tree. He liked the tower and he liked Steve and Thor seemed alright and when he thought about it, he liked Natasha too, she was very pretty and so far had been nice. Still, he didn't know how much longer he could stay, Steve had said they wouldn't send him home but he had his doubts.

He didn't feel like he belonged at the tower and anyway, all of his belongings were at home and he didn't really own anything here. Steve had bought him all of his toys and Natasha had bought him all of his clothes. He felt bad and he was surprised none of them had complained about him how much money he was costing them.

He set the Lite Brite aside and lay back on the floor, staring up at the ceiling. There was an ache in his chest. He didn't know how much longer he would be allowed to stay or for how much longer people would want him to. Soon Captain America would realize that he wasn't a good boy and he would be sent home. As he lay there he thought that maybe that wouldn't be such a bad thing. At least he was used to his home. He picked up the teddy bear and stroked it's fur. If he was allowed to take anything back with him, he hoped it would be the bear. He had a bear at home and it was nice and all but it hadn't been picked out by Captain America!

He sighed, turned off the Lite Brite and went to the window to look out. New York was stretched beneath him. He pressed his nose to the window and sighed deeply, still holding the bear. He wanted to believe Steve, he so desperately wanted to.

Around noon Thor returned to find Clint playing with the Lincoln Logs and the little figures that went with it. He jumped when Thor knocked and sat guiltily in the middle of a mess of toys. Thor smiled broadly and told him it was time for lunch and he had made sandwiches. Clint followed him to the kitchen, surprised that Thor wasn't angry about the mess.

"It looks as though you were having a fine time, young Hawk." The god said.

And he had been, after a while of looking out the window he had returned to playing with his toys and gotten lost in building. He smiled a little and thanked Thor for the sandwich. "Why do you call me a hawk?" He asked.

Thor laughed. "Just a nick name. No sense behind it. Do you not like it?"

"No, it's fine. I just never had a nick name before." His father called him stupid a lot but he didn't think that counted.

Thor smiled. "Then I am pleased to have given you your first."

Clint smiled too. Somehow, he really liked Thor and that was surprising because he had known the man less than a day. Usually it took a lot longer for him to grow to like a person. But Thor just seemed to have an air of genuineness to him that put Clint at ease.

When they finished eating Thor suggested that they go down to the park. They took the elevator which Thor complained was far too slow, making Clint laughed and he reminded the god that he couldn't fly. Outside the sky was darkening for a storm but Thor said he was sure they had enough time for the park and the way his eye twinkled when he said it made Clint sure he knew what he was talking about.

The park had a playground and as Thor settled onto a park bench he encouraged the boy to go and play. Clint was delighted, his parents never took him to a playground. There was a little one near his house but it only had a set of swings and a slide. This one was big, with ramps and monkey bars and a jungle gym. He played on the swings for a little while before a girl came over and asked if he wanted to play on the seesaw with her.

Across the park Thor sat watching. He smiled when the girl came and asked Clint to play with her. He was glad to see the boy running around and even laughing. After a while there was a clap of thunder and the first few drops of rain began to fall. Thor motioned for the boy to come and Clint did, red in the face from playing. Across the playground the girl waved goodbye as she left with her mother. Clint waved back to her and turned to Thor who grinned. "Shall we return?" He asked.

Clint nodded and with a wink Thor scooped him up. Immediately the boy froze but as Thor began to rise into the air he relaxed and looked around with wide eyed wonder.

They flew back to the tower, only just failing to beat the heavy downpour. Once inside Clint smiled widely and used both of his hands to push his wet hair off of his forehead. "That was amazing!" He cried.

Thor laughed. "Perhaps when the weather clears I can take you out for a real flight." He said. "For now though I think we should change into dry clothes. It is not wise for us to remain in this soggy state."

Clint hurried off to go and change and met Thor in the living room, his hair still plastered to his face. With a laugh the god handed him a towel for his hair and helped him dry off. His large hands rubbing the water out of the boy's hair with ease. To his delight, Clint didn't flinch once.

They settled onto the couch and JARVIS recommended a movie and The Jungle book entertained them for the rest of the afternoon. Clint liked the songs and Thor liked the dancing characters and when dinner time came he left the boy to watch the movie and called for takeout.

Clint sat alone on the couch, comfortable and happy. He had never been able to watch two movies in a row and the food was good and people actually made sure he got lunch. A lot of the time he could only count on lunch if he was at school. He was also allowed to take as long of baths and showers as he wanted and no one yelled at him for using up the hot water or for running up the water bill. He sank into the couch, his legs hanging off the end, not long enough to reach the floor. The couch was clean and comfortable, and for once he felt totally at ease.

That night Thor left Clint to watch the Flintstones and waited for the others' arrival. He stood by the window, half watching the street below and half watching to see if Clint had fallen asleep. They boy seemed to trust him but didn't seem willing to get close to him. He frowned, thinking. Maybe he was just too intimidating. It pained him to think that. But then he reminded himself that he'd only spent one day with the child and maybe he just had to be patient.

His eyes flickered back to the boy on the couch. The child sat watching the television with bright eyes and a smile. It pained him even more to think that the only time Clint smiled like that was when he thought no one was watching. A weight settled in his chest at the thought and he crossed his arms. Never in his life had he imagined his teammate to be such a quiet child. It didn't seem right.

Not long after Clint began to drift off and Thor encouraged him to go to bed. "Rest well, young Hawk. The others will have returned by morning."

As Clint lay in bed he looked up at Thor. "Thank you." He said.

Thor smiled. "You are welcome."

The others arrived home not long after Thor had put Clint to bed and he greeted them enthusiastically. Steve apologized for staying away for so long and explained that they had had to stay for a meeting with T'Challa.

Thor nodded. "Then everything went well?"

"Yeah. All taken care of." Tony sighed, sinking into the couch.

"Was everything okay here?" Bruce asked.

"I believe so. He spent the morning in his room and later we went to the park."

"Did he have fun?" Steve asked, coming back from the kitchen with a cup of coffee.

"Yes, he played with a little girl until it rained."

They sat for a moment. "Thanks for staying with him." Tony said. "It really made everything easier. God, I can't wait to get him back to normal. He's a pain in the ass normally but this is too much and the tower's not a place for children."

"I agree. We're not exactly cut out to take care of a kid." Bruce said.

Thor hung his head, in truth he had enjoyed spending the day with Clint and he had enjoyed making the boy smile and if only for a brief moment Clint had opened up and been wildly happy. He held on to that, disappointed that the others had not experienced it. "He's not too much trouble." He said at last.

"I didn't mean that." Tony said quickly. "Just that it'll be better when things are back to normal. You know, the way things are supposed to be."

Natasha crossed the living room. "I'm going to go and check on him."

She stepped into the dark hall and made her way silently down to Clint's room, cracking open the door with out a sound. She stood for a moment, watching the little boy's back rise and fall as he lay spread out on his stomach. She smiled. It was a sloppy way to sleep but it seemed very like him. She lingered for a moment longer before silently closing the door.

Thanks so much for reading. Clint is a little doubtful that he'll get to stay and those worried will be faced soon also for the people hoping for a little Tony-Clint one on one time don't worry, all of the Avengers will get to baby sit Clint on their own. I promise! I don't wanna give too much away but Tony and Clint is coming soon.


	7. Chapter 7

The next morning Clint awoke, as early as he could. He had to make sure his brother was okay. He had had a dream that Barney was alone at home and without him. In his dream, his father kept yelling at Barney that it was his fault Clint was gone and accusing him of letting Clint run away. His dream hadn't gone too far but he knew where it was going to end. His father would hurt Barney, hit hm until he had a concussion or a broken arm.

He slipped out of bed and down the hall. He knew there was a phone in the kitchen, he would be able to call home from there. He crept into the kitchen silently. The clock on the oven read 5:02, he hoped none of the others were awake.

With as much care as he could manage he pushed a chair across the floor to where the phone was mounted on the wall and climbed up, lifting the receiver silently. 555-8172. The ringer went off three times before a woman's voice spoke. I'm sorry, the number you have tried to reach is no longer in service. Please try your call again or try a different number. Startled he chided himself for putting in the wrong number but his second attempt yielded the same result and it was not until a noise behind him that he stopped.

"What the hell are you doing?"

Clint whirled around and toppled right off of the chair. He hit the ground with a thud and the phone landed next to him, bouncing as it's cord pulled it back up again. He scampered into a sitting position and looked guiltily up. "I-I'm sorry!" He cried.

Tony ran a hand through his hair. "Who did call?" He didn't sound exactly angry but he didn't sound happy either.

Clint bit his lip but didn't say anything.

"Clint!" Tony said sharply before he softened. "C'mon, who did you call?"

"I called my house." Clint said softly.

Tony swallowed and more than anything he looked sad. He hadn't meant to snap.

"Only, I don't think I put the number in right cause each time it said I was wrong. I'm really sorry! I just wanted to make sure Barney was alright 'cause I had a dream that he was all alone and I love him and I just wanted to make sure. I know you guys said he was okay but I was still worried and-" Clint broke off, his face feeling hot as he tried desperately to explain himself. "I'm really sorry. Please don't be mad. Please don't get angry!"

Tony stopped for a moment. Panic had made him snap at the boy and he now regretted it. Looking down, Clint looked as though he were about to cry. His eyes were glassy and his face was red. He watched the boy wipe his face with the back of his hand and knelt in front of him. Clint flinched backwards and looked up at him with a wary expression."It's alright, you wanted to check on your brother. I understand. I'm sorry I yelled. Are you okay?"

Not really understanding, Clint nodded and sniffed. He had been so sure Tony was going to hit him or at least yell at him some more.

Tony put up the phone and helped Clint to his feet. "C'mon, shake it off. Are you hurt"

Sniffing again and shaking his head Clint stood still and waited for Tony to make the next move. He still wasn't sure he wasn't in trouble.

Tony looked at the clock and then at the boy before sighing. "Think you can go back to bed?"

Clint shrugged.

Tony nodded, understanding. "Wanna go watch some TV?"

Clint shrugged again. Hardly daring to believe that he wasn't in trouble.

"C'mon."

Tony put a hand on his back and guided the boy towards the living room, to his surprise Clint didn't flinch but he figured that he may have just been too stunned to. Looking down he guess that Clint had expected a beating.

They settled onto the couch and flicked on the TV. "Do you like M*A*S*H*?" Tony asked.

Clint nodded quietly. "Hawkeye's my favorite." He mumbled.

"Yeah, he's pretty great." Tony said, leaning back and feeling uncomfortable. He kept an eye on the boy, waiting for him to relax. It was almost six when Steve found them. He was sweaty and had just come in from his morning run. "Didn't expect to find you here." He said, stopping by the couch. He looked down, surprised to see Clint. "Good morning." He said.

Clint bit his lip. Although he had smiled a few times at Hawkeye and Trapper's antics on the screen he hadn't relaxed and Tony suspected he still thought he was in trouble.

Steve cast him a serious look and motioned towards the hall with his head. "Help me with the coffee maker?" He asked.

Sighing and not at all thrilled to explain the morning's events Tony stood and followed him out. "What's going on?" Steve asked.

Tony ran a hand through his hair. "He tried to call his parents earlier with the phone in the kitchen. I caught him."

"Did he get through to anyone?"

"No, JARVIS said the number's disconnected."

Steve sighed, this made the situation even more complicated. "Did he say why he wanted to call home?"

"Wanted to make sure his brother was okay." There was a heavy silence. "Maybe I can track down his brother again and have him call." Tony added half-heartedly.

Steve shrugged and looked back towards the living room. "May have to, in case he tries anything else."

Sighing, Tony turned towards the elevator. "I'll go track him down. Do you wanna talk to the kid? He's pretty down. Probably thinks I'm mad at him."

Steve entered the living room cautiously. "Hey kiddo." He said kindly.

Clint hung his head. "Did he tell you?"

Steve crossed to the couch and sat down next to him. "Yep."

Clint looked up at him without raising his head. "Are you mad at me?"

"Nope." He draped his arm casually over the back of the couch. "What are we watching?"

Clint stared at him in disbelief. "You're really not mad at me?"

Steve shook his head and frowned as one of the characters on TV said something disrespectful yet funny to a commanding officer. "He shouldn't get away with that."

Clint still stared at him. Steve sighed and turned to him. "No one's mad. It was good that you wanted to talk to your brother, but next time ask one of us first, okay?"

The boy nodded. He looked relieved. "Okay."

Steve glanced at the clock, it was only 6:12. "Why don't you go back to bed or a little bit? You were up pretty early."

Clint nodded and stood. "Okay."

Down in his lab Tony was watching JARVIS go through a list of previous residences for Barney Barton. Ex-carney, ex-army, ex-FBI, ex-supervillain and the man had done prison time to boot. After that though there was nothing. Seemed like after he had ditched Norman Osborne he'd disappeared. After a moment of thinking he tried some of Clint's previous and current properties. Only one had consistent electric and water bills. Finding the phone number he called.

A man picked up. "Hello?"

"Is this Barney Barton?"

"Yeah, who's calling."

"Tony Stark."

There was a pause. "My brother okay?"

Tony weighed his options. "He's not hurt, if that's what you mean but he's not exactly okay either." He said.

Another pause. "Well what happened."

Tony sank into a swivel chair. "Well there was an accident, I'm not going to go into details but he's about five years years old at the moment."

This time he could hear Barney groan on the other end. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Look, there was an accident with time displacement and some of Clint's years got. . . time displaced. I can have Reed Richards send you some more information on it if you want but the main point is that your brother is now a five year old kid."

Barney drew in a breath and there was a long moment before he spoke again. "How is he?" He asked in a quite voice.

"Well, at the moment he thinks I'm mad at him case he tried to call you."

"He tried to call me?"

"Your old home number."

"I want to see him."

"Can't do that. We haven't told him it's not 1977 or '76, not sure what year he thinks it is actually, anyway he still thinks you're a kid too. We're gonna fix this so there's no point in confusing him with talk about the future. I think meeting you face to face would just upset him."

This time Barney waited so long to respond that Tony was afraid that the line had gone dead then he said:"Is he scared?"

"He's just shy mostly."

"Yeah."

Tony sank down in his seat. "He asked Cap to talk to his dad. Asked him to tell your old man to stop hitting the two of you."

"Yeah. . . Dad was a real piece of work. I don't think Clint cried much over him. Mom neither." There was a bitterness in Barney's voice. "Does he have nightmares?"

The idea hadn't occurred to Tony. He answered honestly. "I don't know, if he does he's kept quiet about them."

"Can you take care of him until you can get him back to normal?"

"Sure, he's in a house full of superheroes. I think that's as safe as you can get." He heard a chuckle on the other end. "Hey, can you do us a favor? He really misses you and keeps asking if you're alright. Can you talk to him on the phone? You don't have to say much, just let him know you're okay."

There was a pause. "Guess that's not a lie, huh?"

"I guess not."

"Yeah, sure. I'll do it.' Barney said. "When do you want me to talk to him?"

"Can I call you back around noon?"

"That works."

"Okay, thanks man."

"N-no problem, just take care of him and be patient. He was a pain in the ass kid but I guess if you can put up with him as an adult you can handle anything. . . only just be patient with him when he screws up cause he screws up a lot and he beats himself up over it. Just try and be patient and look after him."

Tony smiled sadly. "Sure, We'll take good care of him and if you want we'll keep you updated."

"That. . . that'd be nice. Thank you."

Tony sighed. "He's a good kid. Jumpy and a little shy but a good kid." With a chuckle he added: "A lot easier to handle then he is as an adult."

"Yeah, he was a good kid."

There was a silence and finally Tony cleared his throat. "Well, I gotta get back to work. Like I said, I'll call you around noon."

"I'll be waiting."

He hung up the phone and sat back, hands laced across his stomach. Thinking.

For all of their trouble later in life Clint must have been pretty close with his brother as a child. He thought about everything Clint had said about Barney since becoming a child. He'd complained about his brother's hand-me-downs and once or twice wished his brother spent more time with him instead of with his friends. He rubbed his forehead thinking about that. That was natural, Barney was a few years older and it was only normal for him to have wanted to spend more time with kids his own age than with his kid brother. But no matter the complaints Clint never stopped thinking about or missing his brother. There was genuine love there and for once he wondered how much the fighting between them had hurt Clint as an adult. Glancing at the phone he was glad they had reconciled, although he still didn't entirely trust Barney Barton.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, Clint gets to call his brother next chapter!


	8. Chapter 8

They called Barney a little after noon, making a show of asking if he was there and then pretending to wait for him to come to the phone. When they finally handed the receiver to Clint he held it with both hands, wide eyed.

"Hello?" He said.

"Clint?" On the other end Barney sounded stunned.

"Barney, is that you? You sound weird." Clint said.

Barney laughed it off. "Just a cold. You okay?"

The boy brightened. "Yeah. Are you?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm staying with some real nice people." Barney said, trying to keep his voice from sounding too deep.

Clint's eyes shown with light for the first time since his arrival. "You'll never guess who I'm staying with!" He said excitedly.

"Who?"

"Captain America!"

On his end Barney could barely contain a smile. It was a kind of bitter happiness but it was happiness just the same. "No way!" He said, playing along.

"Yeah and he bought me some toys!"

"You'll have to get me his autograph!"

"Can't you come and stay here?" Clint sounded disappointed.

"Not right now but maybe in a while."

There was a pause and then in a hushed tone Clint asked: "Is dad mad at me?"

On his end Barney felt his heart break a little bit, he'd forgotten just how small Clint could sound. "N-no." He said, going for the best cover story he could think of. "You know how he is. He's on a bender and doesn't even know we're gone. I bet he'll wake up in a few days and not know what happened."

"What about mom, is she mad?"

"Naw, she went to Aunt Kathy's like she always does when dad binges. She doesn't know we're gone either. Hasn't been home in days." It was a painful lie to tell, bringing back a world they'd both tried to forget. Barney did his best to keep his voice even and sound like this was all normal, and as matter of fact as it had been when they were children.

Clint brightened as though this was good news but he still looked down and he knew Steve and the others in the room had heard Barney. Steve's arms were folded and he looked as though he was trying not to be mad. Tony just looked like his suspicions had been confirmed.

"Well, I hope I can see you soon." Clint said.

"Me too."

Steve turned away to give the boy some privacy as he detailed the few days he'd spent in the tower to his brother, looking more animated than he had since arriving. He glanced at Tony who frowned and stared out the window. They had the phone on speaker but let Clint hold the receiver, he didn't quite understand what a speaker phone was.

Eventually he handed the phone back and Tony thanked Barney.

"No problem, just keep me up to date with him. He's my little brother and I guess it sounds like you guys are doing a good job." Barney thought for a moment. "He likes peanut butter, by the way and bananas. Can't get him to eat vegetables worth a damn but he likes fruit okay and. . . I dunno. It's been so long. . ."

"Thanks." Tony said quietly. "I can send you some pictures tonight if you want. Got a couple of cute ones I'm gonna blackmail him with later."

There was an appreciative chuckle. "That'd be nice. Listen, if you need anything, call me. I mean it"

"Yeah, okay."

Despite feeling that Barney didn't want to go Tony ended the conversation. When he looked back, Clint was smiling and telling Steve about his brother. He smiled uncomfortably himself. The lying was a necessity, they had to do it. Clint couldn't know he was supposed to be an adult, it was too hard to explain and if they could get him back to normal before any of that became necessary he'd be eternally grateful.

Clint was much better after talking to his brother and although he still seemed a little wary around Tony, he was more animated and cheerful around the others. He talked Steve into a board game and then watched cartoons by himself while the others went about their days.

Just before dinner time he showed up in the kitchen with something hidden behind his back. He looked up at Tony who had come up with the idea of pancakes for dinner and had since been tasked with making them himself. Tony looked down. "What's up?" He asked.

Clint gave him a hesitant look before removing something from behind his back. He then fixed his eyes on the floor and refused to make anymore eye contact.

Tony looked down at the thing in the boy's hands. It was a drawling. He stared for a minute, it wasn't particularly good but from the impression marks on the paper it looked as though Clint had put a lot of effort into it. The drawling was of himself and his Iron Man suit standing arm in arm. He looked from the drawling to Clint and back. "It's. . . thank you." He said, unsure of what to say.

Clint looked up, his eyebrows knitted with worry. "Do you like it?" He asked.

"Yeah." Tony looked at him in disbelief. "Yeah, it's really great. " He took it from the boy. "Thanks a lot!" He smiled widely, hoping this was then end of the morning's difficulties.

"So you're not mad at me?"

Tony looked at the picture for a moment which he decided wasn't that bad for a little kid and then at the child standing in front of him. He sighed and sunk to the floor, kneeling at eye level. "I was never mad at you. I told you that. Did you think I lied?"

Clint looked up at him and shrugged but his expression said he had.

Tony frowned. "Look Clint even if I was mad at you, I wouldn't be now. Everything is okay." But Clint didn't look relieved and Tony's frown deepened. "I'm not mad, I never was. Please believe me."

"Why not?" Came a small voice.

"Jesus, because it was one phone call and it turned out okay. It's not worth being mad about. I mean, why would I care?"

"I just thought. . . since I'm not supposed to use the phone and I dropped it."

"I know. . . look, everyone does things their not supposed to but little things like that, I'm not going to be mad about."

"So you forgive me?"

It pained Tony how adamantly Cling believed he had done wrong. "Sure." He said, defeated. "Yeah. You wanna shake on it?" He held out his hand and with only a slight hesitation Clint shook it. "That's better. Can we be friends?"

Clint shrugged. "I guess."

"Great, well friends have to help friends with cooking so why don't you go get me some eggs from the fridge?"

With a small smile Clint hurried over to the refrigerator. "How many?" He asked. holding open the door.

"Oh, about four. Don't take more than you can carry."

Cooking with Clint turned out to be great fun, the boy was plenty nervous but the longer they worked together the more he relaxed and when Tony playfully flung a bit of batter at him he laughed out loud.


	9. Chapter 9

Determined to make up for their misunderstanding Tony devoted himself to Making amends. The next day he volunteered to stay behind to watch Clint while the others went out on patrol. He actually cooked breakfast himself, something he normally never did.

When the boy entered the kitchen, still in his pajamas he looked startled but not scared. "Eggs are ready." Tony said, scraping them onto Clint's plate.

"Where is everyone?" Clint asked.

"Thor's across town helping with a collapsed building, Steves' with Natasha doing some business and Bruce had to go out and see Hank Pym. You don't know him but they've got science stuff to talk about." He chuckled at his joke.

Clint was mostly silent through breakfast but he seemed attentive and even laughed once or twice. "Okay, go get dressed and meet me back here. I wanna introduce you to someone." Tony said. He watched Clint scurry off and messaged Pepper. After telling her about the accident she had asked him frequently for updates and Tony had an idea that it might be good for Clint to meet someone who wasn't a crime-fighter.

She arrived not long before Clint returned and Settled at the kitchen table. "I took the day off." She said. "I thought you might want some company."

Tony nodded over coffee and she reached out a hand and touched his arm. "Did he say anything about the other day?"

"No, I think we worked through that last night. God, I hope we did."

She frowned. "It's not really your fault. You don't have any experience around kids."

Tony sighed. "Neither do the others but Steve and Thor seem to have a good thing going with him."

She smiled understandingly. "He's young and kids bounce back. They're tougher than you think and if this boy grows into the man we know then he's gonna be fine."

Tony grinned a little. "Are you sure we're talking about the same Hawkeye?"

She laughed and a small noise alerted them to Clint's presence. "Are you guys talking about MASH?" He asked.

"Sure thing, kiddo. I was just saying how Pepper here reminds me of Hot Lips." Pepper gave him a dramatically indignant look that made Clint smile. "Clint, this is my very best friend and special lady friend, Pepper Potts. I wanted you to meet her."

Pepper smiled warmly. "It's nice to meet you Clint." She said.

He smiled back shyly. "Hi."

Pepper laughed. "Tony showed me the drawling you made for him. It's very good."

Clint looked surprised but pleased. "I can make you one if you want." He offered.

"You know, I think I'd like that. I could hang it in my office."

The kid's eyes were wide now, no one had ever taken much of an interest in something he had made before. He took an immediate liking to Pepper who had a much more accessible aura about her than Natasha. He felt bad thinking that, he liked Natasha but Pepper just came across as warmer.

He smiled and sat more comfortably in his seat. "Are you Tony's girlfriend?" He asked.

She beamed and gave Tony a flirting look. "Only when he behaves."

Tony opened his mouth to object but was silenced by a small kiss. He contented himself to sit and pretend to look miffed. Clint made a face.

"You think kissings' gross, do you kid?" Tony teased.

Clint shrugged but smiled again.

They kept him entertained for a little while longer before sending him off to play looking happy. "He likes you." Tony said, looking relieved.

Pepper folded her hands on the table. "I'm glad. You know he's so much quieter than when he's grown up. It's almost like he's two different people."

"Yeah. We've talked about that. Guess a lot of stuff happened to him between now and then."

"Still, he seems sweet."

"Yeah, he's a pretty good kid." The talked some more before moving into the living room. Clint had occupied himself in his room, disappearing for most of the morning. After a while he returned and presented Pepper with a drawing of herself. He smiled hopefully, watching her examine it.

"What do you think?" He asked.

She raised an eyebrow and smiled. "I think I'm going to frame it before I put it in my office."

He beamed.

Tony cleared his throat. "I like mine better."

Clint laughed and stood in front of them, shifting from foot to foot. "Come and join us, we were just about to watch some TV." Pepper said, motioning to the seat beside her. Clint scrambled onto the couch and they spent the rest of the morning watching a movie.

Around lunch, Pepper made macaroni and Tony fidgeted with a small robot he was working on. "What's that?" Clint asked in some excitement.

"Robot." Tony said.

"Like on the Jetsons?"

"Well it's not gonna clean the house but yeah. Kinda."

"Did you make it?"

"Yeah. Petty simple really. As far as robotics go." Tony cracked a grin. "As far as MY robotics go that is." Clint looked amazed and Tony let the little robot loose. It was shaped like a tiny dog and barked when it sensed motion. "Do you want it?"

Clint looked up surprised. "Me?"

"Sure."

He waved his hand in front of the dog and it barked and lifted it's front paws. "I've never had anything this cool before! Barney is gonna be so jealous!"

Pepper and Tony shared an amused look. "He can live in a Lincoln log house." Tony suggested.

Clint's eyes sparked at the idea and after lunch he took the dog and raced off to go and make a house for the it.

"That was a great idea." Pepper said, kissing the top of Tony's head.

"Thought it up this morning. I don't want any real pets in here but a toy is fine. It's only the size of my fist so it's not like it can knock anything over."

"I think it was really sweet."

"Well, Barton seems like a dog person."

"He really liked it."

Tony grinned and piked up the dishes.

An hour later Bruce returned looking worn. "How was Pym? He gotten any father?"

"A little bit. He's working pretty hard. He's managed to recreate the particles but he's having difficulty stabilizing them."

"How long does he think it'll take?"

"Don't know. He says they're much more volatile than normal Pym Particles and he wants to test them before we use them of Clint. Honestly, I think he's having a field day."

Tony sighed. "I'm gonna give him a call and make sure he's not just playing around with them."

Bruce sank into a kitchen chair. "Has it occurred to you that he may have found the secret to eternal youth?"

Tony raised his eyebrows. "What good is eternal youth if you forget everything in the process?"

"Well, imagine if he could find a way around that. He'd be the most powerful man in the world."

"Has he thought of that?"

"I don't know. He briefly mentioned there could be some medical value to them but we didn't pursue the topic."

"Eternal youth. I hope Pym isn't stupid enough to try and market that. He'd do better to just fix Clint and then destroy what's left."

Bruce leaned forward over the table. "Is that what you would do?"

Tony fell silent and gave him a long look. "Probably not. I'd probably do just what you said."

There was a pause. "I agree with you though. It's dangerous."

That evening Pepper joined the Avengers for dinner and Clint showed everyone his new toy. Steve was particularly impressed. "That's really neat!" He said.

"Have you named it?" Natasha asked.

Clint shrugged. "Robot dog?"

"That's an awful name." Tony said. "Pick something cooler."

Clint puzzled over the dog with an almost comical expression. "I can't think of anything!"

"How about Spot?" Steve suggested.

"How generic and besides. There's not a spot on him." Tony said.

Steve rolled his eyes and waited for someone else to give an idea. "How about Arrow?" Tony teased.

"Why Arrow?" Clint asked. "He doesn't have an arrow on him either."

Tony broke into a grin. "Because I don't think Pepper would want me to name him Shaft." He broke out laughing and Pepper elbowed him sharply.

"Arrow is a cute name." She said, glaring at Tony who was still grinning.

"I agree." Natasha said. "And when two women say it's a good idea then they're probably right."

Clint laughed. "Okay!" He let the toy dog walk around on the table some more, smiling at it. "I've never had a dog before!" He said excitedly.

Steve laughed. "Well this is a pretty cool one."

"Uh-huh!" The boy agreed.

Natasha experimentally reached a hand and out and brushed it over his head. He stiffened and for a moment looked as though he was going to flinch away but then settled for just looking at her with a puzzled expression.

The others tensed up, waiting for a reaction. None came and for a moment the two of them locked eyes and stared at each other. Natasha didn't smile but Clint didn't look afraid. "I'm sorry if I bothered you, little one." She said in a soft voice.

He gazed with wide eyes and raised brows. "It's okay."

She gave him a long searching look and smiled. "Alright, little one."

After that Clint stayed quiet but he seemed to gravitate towards Natasha in a state of puzzlement. When he finally began to yawn and droop his head it was she who helped him off to bed.


	10. Chapter 10

Natasha had been distant since Clint's transformation and she was angry with herself for it. She was angry that she did not know how to interact with a child and angry that she felt useless when she was around him. Of course it wasn't either of their fault, she had no experience with children, but then she thought, neither did any of the others and they seemed to be doing okay. All except for Bruce who had spent the least time around Clint and who tended to avoid him when he was on his own.

But, she thought, that was Bruce's problem. And she had to solve her's herself. It pained her that she didn't know what to say to the boy. It pained her also because she felt that she should know and a piece of her was missing. She felt as though that a piece of her had been taken out. Perhaps the Red Room had removed it to make room for new ways to kill people. Maybe they thought that a woman like her wold never need to be around children and didn't need to know how to treat them or talk to them. It pained her most because she desperately wanted to care for him but didn't know how.

Almost every single night she found herself rising to check on Clint. She would open his door and watch him sleep. But only for a few moments. She would allow herself only a small glimpse of his rising and falling chest and of the dim shape of his forehead, smooth against his pillow. Then she would close the door and return to her room with no one ever knowing.

Twice she had thought that he was awake. Once she had thought his breathing too erratic, another time she had seen his open eyes close but she never approached him. Never asked why he was awake at two in the morning. Yet still she feared that he was having nightmares or bad dreams. She was no stranger to those herself but it seemed an entirely different world to comfort a child. And she was afraid. Afraid that if the task fell on her she would not be able to do it and she would fail.

Still that night after she had taken him to bed she crept out of her room to check on Clint's sleep and found him lying on his back with his eyes wide open. This time he did not close them and he looked at her silently and in the darkness she gazed back, waiting.

When he did nothing she finally took it upon herself and crossed to the bed. He stayed very still but his eyes were locked on her and she brushed the hair off of his forehead. "Did you have a bad dream, little one?" She asked.

He nodded solemnly. Eyes wide.

She petted his head and he relaxed. "Can I get you anything?"

He shook his head, eyes never leaving hers.

"Then what can I do?" She asked.

With a sad look he shrugged and his eyes finally drifted away. Perhaps, she thought in disappointment. She watched him and then pulled herself under the covers. "May I stay with you?"

He nodded quickly and then blushed as she reached out a hand and touched his cheek. A muscle in his face twitched but that was it and she stroked his cheek with the back of her knuckle, marveling at how soft it was. "Sleep well." She said and then she closed her eyes.

Even with her eyes closed it was a long time before she drifted off and before that happened she felt a warm heat against her side, Clint had curled up against her, his back fitted into the curve of her waist. She smiled briefly, feeling the swell of his ribcage as he inhaled and the collapse of it as he exhaled. Maybe it had not been taken from her. Maybe she had to learn instead. She was happy when she finally drifted off to sleep. Happy that violence had not replaced love in her heart.


	11. Chapter 11

The next morning Natasha awoke to find Clint asleep with his face turned towards her. She smiled and stretched out, eventually sliding out from under the covers and heading to the kitchen. She was the first one up, even Steve hadn't left for his morning jog yet and looking out she thought he might not get a chance. Rain was coming.

She made herself coffee and sat at the kitchen table, thinking to herself. It was nice to be alone. She liked waking up before everyone else. She sat quietly, staring out the window. She felt as though she had accomplished something. Clint didn't seem scared of her and in some way seemed more willing to get close to her than he was with either Steve or Thor. It created a warm feeling in her chest.

In the early hours she sat and watched the sky darken. The first clap of thunder started a downpour. She sat at the table watching it, content.

A yawn in the hallway distracted her form her thoughts. Steve was up. "Morning." He said thickly.

She eyed him quietly. "Morning."

He poured himself some coffee. "No run for me, it looks like."

"You could use the gym."

He shrugged in acknowledgment. "Not really the same though. I don't like running in place."

She smiled to herself. "What are you going to do with your morning then?"

Steve took a seat. "Dunno. Maybe I will hit the gym. Punch a few bags. You wanna come?"

She drained her coffee. "Sure."

After a quick change she met him down in the tower's gym. Steve was already there warming up. She watched him for a moment, amused by his energy level.

With a quick laugh she climbed onto the sparing mats. "C'mon Cap." She winked at him. "I'll go easy."

He grinned. "Oh good, I don't know if I could take you first thing in the morning.."

They went a few rounds, kicking, punching, blocking. Neither put a huge amount of effort in, it was just a way to warm up for the day. Natasha watched Steve closely, she wanted to talk about Clint but was nervous about bringing the subject up. Finally when they finished and were sitting down Steve brought it up himself.

"Would you mind watching Clint today? I've got to be on the Helecarier again."

She paused. "Alright."

"It's okay if you don't. We could find a babysitter or something. I'm sure the Fantastic Four would be up for it. Reed's got two kids himself. I'm sure he wouldn't mind."

"No, it's fine. I want to."

He looked surprised. "You do?"

She took a seat on the bench next to him. "Yes, it wouldn't bother me."

"Well that's a relief. Thor has to go home for a few days so he couldn't stay and Tony and Bruce are busy. I didn't know who was going to be able to watch him. Thanks."

She smiled, a wave of apprehension washing over her. She wasn't sure she'd be able to forge an emotional connection with Clint while he was awake. It was one thing for him to want to be close to her right after he'd had a nightmare but another when she could offer him nothing.

She sat by herself for a moment, waving Steve bye as he went to take a quick shower. It was frustrating. In combat she never doubted herself, in espionage, she never had to but now, on a rainy weekend when the most she was faced with was a scrawny five year old she was questioning every move she made.

She returned to the upstairs kitchen to find everyone preparing to leave. Clint had already left to go and get dressed. "If you need anything," Steve said. "I got a phone. Call me."

She nodded but felt that she wouldn't. "Thank you."

"Know what you're going to do today?" Tony asked, fixing his tie for a board meeting.

Natasha thought for a moment. "I thought maybe I'd take him to the park, if the weather clears up that is."

"Sounds fun. Pity I gotta be in a meeting all day."

She smiled teasingly. "I think it'll do you some good."

He shrugged as though he thought not and headed out the door.

"Well, take care." Steve said, hurrying after.

Natasha waited for Clint to return from getting dressed. She had nothing to do and with the weather as it was, it looked as though her options were severely limited.

Clint returned to the kitchen bright eyed. She gave him a smile that made him flush and when he wasn't looking she grinned knowingly. "What do you want to do today, kiddo?" She asked. "I'm all yours all day."

He eyed her nervously. "Maybe we could watch a movie?"

"Sure."

She lead the way into the living room and JARVIS surprised them with Lady and the Tramp which neither had seen before and which Natasha secretly found very enjoyable. She sat next to Clint on the couch, half watching the movie and half watching him. It was her first time really being alone with him since the accident and she found herself measuring her every move, almost as though she were in combat. Silly, She thought, that she should be so nervous. He was just a little boy. Yet still, she wanted him to like her and she wanted it to be genuine and more than anything she wanted to be genuine with him.

Clint she saw early on kept sneaking glances at her and she had to time her own between his. He kept checking to see if she was enjoying herself and apparently just to make sure she was still there. He blushed every time she caught him looking.

When the movie ended she uncurled her legs from under her and stretched. He stretched too, making a little noise as he did no. She smiled again. "Good movie?" She asked.

He nodded. "I never saw that one before."

"Me neither." Looking out the window the rain had still not abated. Natasha popped her back. "How about we play a game?" She asked, trying to be fun.

Clint looked up at her. "Like what?"

"Do you have any puzzles or board games?"

He bounced with excitement and she guessed that not many adults had ever bothered to play games with him. "I'll go get them!"

They spent the next few hours playing different board games and building puzzles. He was enthusiastic about the 3D puzzles but not very good at them and Natasha did most of the work putting together a standing castle.

"This is really cool!" Clint said excitedly as he tried to mash together two foam pieces that didn't fit. She let him try his luck for a second before giving him a handful of pieces she knew would work.

"It certainly is."

Clint blushed and smiled at her, cheeks red.

He's got it bad. She thought, smiling bemusedly. The boy had a raging, completely obvious crush on her. It was charming, really. She smiled at him. "How about lunch now?"

Clint set his puzzle pieces down and followed her into the kitchen. This wasn't so difficult, she though. The fact that the boy had a crush on her was a big plus, he actively wanted to be near her now. She made him some canned spaghettio's and herself some fruit and yogurt. He watched her eat for a moment, waiting for his food to cool. "Can I call you Natasha?" He asked shyly.

"Of coarse. I want you to. It would mean we're friends."

He smiled. "Really?"

"Yes, I think so. You do want to be friends, don't you?"

He nodded enthusiastically.

"Then we are friends."

He ate for a minute before looking back up and when he did his face was very serious. "Thanks for staying." He sounded ashamed.

She sobered, knowing he was talking about the previous night. "You're welcome." She made her voice soft and gentle, backed by the rain and the the wind. "You can always come and find me, if you have another nightmare."

He looked down at his bowl. "Barney always stays with me when I'm scared. Or when I make dad really angry. He doesn't even call me a cry baby. Dad does though."

"I won't either then. And I don't think you're a baby. He sounds like a very good brother."

Clint nodded seriously. "Yeah, Barney is super cool. He knows how to do all kinds of neat stuff like skip rocks and he showed me how if you leave a penny on the train tracks the train will go over it and then it'll be flat! We did it one time and it was really cool."

She smiled. "I had many brothers as a girl and they all taught me many things."

"Did they teach you how to skip rocks?"

She smiled, not sadly but not happily, because she had had brothers and many of them had died and under different circumstances, many of them might have been clean, healthy, happy boys with happy, loving families. She smiled because she had come close to loving them and it was a bitter memory that she held in her heart. "No, they didn't teach me to skip stones but they taught me to light a fire with flint and with sticks and to tell when it was going to rain. They taught me what was safe to eat in the wild and what would leave me dead by morning. They taught me how to go from place to place unseen. But I don't think anyone ever taught them to skip rocks. They may not have known at all."

"Maybe they didn't have a brother to teach them." He said.

She knew he didn't understand but she still smiled. "Perhaps not."

"Do you know how to skip rocks?"

"I've never tried." She said.

He smiled delightedly. "Then I can teach you!"

She laughed. "I look forward to it." Seeing that talking about his brother made him happy she asked him several more questions.

"And Barney let me have his old GI Joe cause he said he was too big for it. I named it Bob. He said that was dumb 'cause GI Joes already have a name but I figure they can't all be named Joe so I named him Bob. Also, Bob only has one arm, 'cause he lost it in the war." He leaned in seriously and she copied him, playing along. "He didn't really lose his arm in the war, the neighbor's dog tore it off when Barney left him outside. But he tells everyone he lost it in the war to sound tough."

She bit back laughter and instead nodded seriously. "Well I won't tell anyone."

"Okay, cause it's a secret."

Smiling to herself, she cleared the table. She could see the adult Clint in the child. He had his energy and his personality, maybe just a little bit more naive. Clint was now talking about the neighbor's dog which he said he played with when it got out.

They moved back to the living room and finished the puzzle, talking about Steve and Tony. Clint liked her stories about them. He said he had a few Captain America comics and wondered if Steve would like them.

Natasha laughed but didn't answer. She knew Steve found them silly. They finished the puzzle and Clint disappeared to go and play in his room for a while and Natasha retired to the kitchen to sit and read.

But she couldn't focus on the words. She was overcome by a warmth in her heart. She was doing a good job of watching Clint and what was more, the longer she sat with him the easier it got. He liked her and more than anything else, she liked him. Making him food, playing with him, it was coming naturally, not forced as she had expected.

It made her happy. For so long she had feared that she would be unable to handle a child. She couldn't have them herself and somehow, the idea of caring for one had become a foreign notion in her life. Yet here she was, playing games and watching movies with a little boy. A little boy she had been able to comfort out of a nightmare and who thought of her as kind and gentle. It was good to be that in someone's eyes. She would offer to watch him more now that she knew for sure she could do it.

As she sat and made herself coffee, she felt normal. Something that she seldom even thought about and which made her laugh because there was absolutely nothing normal about the situation. Still, in the moment, she knew she was capable of this and it was freeing to know.

Listening carefully she could hear Clint down the hall playing in his room, entertaining himself as children do. She smiled quietly.

After a little while he came to find her and sat in the arm chair next to the couch. It was still raining hard outside and any plans of taking him to the park had been crushed. "He swung his legs and sat quietly, glancing at her every now and then. Finally he spoke up. "I think you're really pretty." He said shyly.

She looked up from her reading and smiled at him. "I think you're very good looking too."

He perked up. "Really? Cause I thought you were really pretty the first time I saw you." He beamed at her. "I like your red hair."

"Oh you do, do you?"

"Uh-huh! Barney has red hair too. He says red hair means you're smart."

"Well, I have to agree with him."

Clint crossed his legs in the chair. "How come the calendars are wrong?"

She froze. There was nothing suspicious in his tone, he simply looked curious. "They're a joke item. Tony thought it would be funny to confuse Steve."

"Did it work?"

She smiled gently but inside cursed herself and the others for not thinking to change the calendars. "For a few days. Then Steve realized it was a prank."

"That's pretty funny. Did he change the paper too?"

Again, he caught her off guard. "Do you read the paper?" She asked.

He nodded. "Oh yeah! I like reading Superman in the funny pages. And Denis and Nancy too." I couldn't find Superman the other day. I even looked through the whole paper. You know, I think it must have been a joke cause there was all this weird stuff in it they got wrong. Like who the president is. Did Tony make it as a joke too?"

She composed herself, outwardly showing nothing but humor. "I think he must have. Tony likes to pull pranks. I guess he got you."

Clint smiled. "Haha. I like Tony, he's funny."

"Yes, he thinks he is."

It was a quick save, she thought. They would have to be more careful. She wondered briefly if they would do better to just explain the situation to Clint but refrained from doing so. The others were staunchly against it. They were convinced the truth would upset him and would just cause more problems.

Clint prattled on about the different comic strips he liked and how he liked the Sunday pages best because they were in color. She half listened, thinking about how she was going to tell the rest of the team this snag.

After a while he quieted down and sat sprawled out the chair, swinging his legs. "Cooped up?" She asked.

He looked up at her and shrugged.

She looked out at the sky and then back at him. The rain was still going but it had let up a little and there was no more thunder or lighting. "Would you like to go and splash in the puddles?" She asked.

He looked up, breaking his board expression. "Yeah!"

"Then lets hurry before the storm starts again." She grabbed her rain coat and lead him outside to the wet street, opening an umbrella over her head. Clint ran ahead, jumping in puddles as they made their way to the park. She held a few feet back so he wouldn't splash her her. It was nice to see him this energetic. She wondered if he had spent too much time cooped up inside.

Once at the park she turned him loose to play on the playground and splash in all the puddles he could find. She had brought a book to read but spent most of her time watching him play. They were the only two people there. It was an isolated feeling but a rather enjoyable one. They had the whole park to themselves.

Clint splashed around for a while becoming very muddy. He played on the swings and slides and eventually splashed his way over to her, hair plastered to his face with water. He landed in a big puddle next to he bench and sent muddy water flying all over her. She only just raised her book in time to avoid the onslaught.

He froze, wide eyed. "I-I'm sorry!" He cried.

She watched him. He was afraid. She could see it in his eyes. Carefully she knelt down to his height and touched his cheek. "It's okay. It's only a bit of mud. See?" She scooped up a handful of muddy water and splashed it on both of them. He relaxed and gave a small laugh. She smiled. "Only a bit of mud." He finally lost the terrified look in his eyes and exhaled.

She sighed inwardly, glad she had been able to defuse the situation. She patted the seat next to her and he cam and sat down.

"I thought you were gonna be really mad." He said, quietly.

She shifted her weight and crossed her legs, taking in his muddy feet and clothes. "I only get mad at reasonable things. A bit of mud isn't going to hurt me."

"Mom got real mad one time when I splashed her laundry. I was playing in the back yard and some mud hit the clothes line." He looked out over the soggy park. "I thought you were gonna get real mad too."

She reached out a hand and brushed water out of his face. He held still but didn't flinch. "Did she hurt you?"

"No. but she told dad and he got mad too."

"I see."

She wanted to tell him his parents were dead. It would have ended much of his fear but she didn't. She didn't know how he would take it. Instead she stayed quiet and simply sat next too him.

After a while Clint seemed to come out of his brooding and returned to playing around. Natasha sat deep in thought, thinking hard about herself and about him and about many other things, glad she had found a part of herself.

When they finally returned home she told him to go and take a bath and then just for comfort took one herself. At the end of the day, several of the Avengers returned home. Tony was worn and irritated looking from a long day of board meetings, Steve looked exasperated and Bruce just sighed and mumbled about no progress.


	12. Chapter 12

That night after Clint had gone to change for bed she told the others about his newspaper and calendar discovery.

"And you're sure you played it off?" Bruce asked.

"I told him it was a joke."

"And he believed you?"

"I think so. He thought it was funny."

"This is troubling." Bruce said thoughtfully. "If Clint thought to check the date in the paper then he's bound to notice other things. That's very articulate for a child his age. Frankly I'm surprised. We may end up having to tell him. I'd prefer that to him finding it out on his own."

"Do you think that's a good idea?" Tony asked, straddling a kitchen chair backwards. He rocked onto it's back legs. "I mean he'd start asking questions. Where his parents are, how he got here, what his adult self is like. There are a lot of things I'd rather him not know at this age. They'd probably just upset him. I mean he's deaf for Christ's sake. What little kid wants to find out he grows up to be deaf?"

Steve sighed and slouched in his seat. "I know what you mean but don't you think he'll be even more upset when he finally figures it out? I mean, we've gotten him to like us and I think he's starting to trust us too but if he finds out that we've been keeping such a big secret form him it's bound to set things back."

Natasha sat quietly. She was glad to have Cap on her side.

"I know what you're saying but there have got to be better ways we can keep the secret. I could print off old newspaper archives from the 70's and dig up some calendars."

"Is it really worth all that? I mean, we're going to get him back to normal eventually. When we do, it won't matter."

"That's true. Dr. Pym is pretty sure that only his older self will remember all of this stuff."

"But we don't know how long it will take to get him back to normal." Tony argued. "He could be stuck like this for months. Hell, at the rate Hank and Reed are going it could take a full year."

"That's unfair, they're doing their best." Steve interjected.

"Yeah, I know, you're right. It's barely been a week. Still, it's like I said before. This is no place for a kid. He could get hurt. The tower could get attacked. We've got super villains targeting us. Imagine what would happen if one of them found out Clint was a kid."

That doesn't have anything to do with telling Clint the truth." Natasha said, putting them back on topic. "I think we should tell him. He's going to figure it out eventually and it's better he gets it from us than finds out on his own and resents us."

Bruce nodded. "I think I'm gonna have to agree, Tony."

Tony's jaw twitched. "Alright, so we do tell him. He'll freak out."

"Not if we break it too him easy." Steve said. "He's a tough kid."

"I disagree."

"I think we should tell him now." Natasha said, rising from her seat. "It should be sooner than later and if we tell him now he can sleep off the shock."

"Or not sleep at all." Tony cut in.

She gave him a silencing look, understanding his view but not accepting any other way. "I'll go and get him." She exited the kitchen and left the rest of them to sit and wait. Knocking on Clint's door she found him putting away his toys. He was very good about that. "Clint, could you come to the kitchen for a moment, there's something the others and I would like to talk to you about."

He looked up and from his eyes she knew he expected the worst. "Come on." She said, taking his hand and leading the way. He was heavy behind her.

In the bright kitchen he stood against the wall, looking up at them. "Am I in trouble?" He asked.

"No." She said quietly.

"Clint, there's something we'd like to tell you." Steve said, kneeling down in front of the boy. "And we didn't know how to do so before."

Clint's eyebrows came together in worry. He held his arms against his chest and bit his lip.

"You know how you found that calender that said it was 2014 and how the newspaper said it too and had a bunch of pictures of things that can't exist?" Clint nodded, wondering wildly if he was not supposed to have found it. "Well, I know Natasha told you they were a joke but they're really not. It really is the year 2014."

Clint looked at their faces, trying to understand why they were all so serious. Natasha had said it was a joke.

"Do you understand? It's not 1976, it's 2014 right now."

The boy looked at him steadily, not understanding.

Steve rocked back on his heels. "You see, we're friends with you as an adult and there was an accident. We were fighting some bad guys and something went wrong. You got turned into a little kid again and there was nothing we could do."

"But I don't remember being grown up."

"No, you wouldn't your adult years got stolen."

"So I'm supposed to be a grown up?"

"Well, you're supposed to be."

Clint climbed into a kitchen chair. "How come you guys didn't tell me?" He looked around confusedly.

"We didn't know how. We were afraid to."

Clint made a face like he was thinking hard. "Why?"

"Well, we thought you'd get really scared. You know you're being really brave right now." Steve offered him a smile and then something strange came over Clint's face.

"Hang on. How come Barney's a kid then?"

"Well, he's not really. When you talked to him on the phone he sounded different, right?"

"He said he was sick."

"He wasn't. He's a grown up."

The little boy licked his lips. "So he lied to me?"

"No, it's not like that. He wanted to tell you the truth but we told hm not to."

The boy looked as though his head hurt. "Why?

"I told you, we were afraid to tell you."

"Are my mom and dad old now too?"

Natasha leaned forward and reached for his hand. He drew it back, looking at her face intently. "No Clint, they're not." He made an odd expression she couldn't read. "They're dead."

He looked down at his lap and then at all of them and then scooted his chair back and left the room. They heard his bedroom door close quietly from down the hall.

"Well. . ." Said Bruce, sitting back in his seat and rubbing his eyes. "That could have gone worse. Could have gone better too."

"What should we do?" Steve asked, sitting back defeatedly. "Do you think I should go and talk to him?"

"I think he wants to be alone." Natasha said.

"He's five and he feels alone. That's not a good mix." Bruce said softly.

"I think you should go and talk to him, Cap." Tony said.

Steve stood and nodded. "Yeah." He knocked quietly on Clint's door. "Clint, are you in there?"

There was a muffled noise. "Clint I'm gonna come in." He opened the door but found the room empty. A light however was shining from under the bathroom door. "Clint, it's me, Steve. Do you wanna come out and talk?" He tried the handle. It was locked. "C'mon buddy."

Inside the bathroom Clint listened to Captain America try and coax him out but didn't budge. He knew it wasn't Steve's fault that they'd kept it a secret. Adult's kept secrets. That was just what they did. But he thought it was a pretty big one to keep about his parents. All this time he had been afraid that his father would make him go home or that he would be sent home. And now he knew that the man was dead. That both his parents were dead. He was angry. He had been so afraid for nothing. Dead people couldn't hurt you.

He sat on the bathroom rug and hugged his knees, back pressed against the tub. He didn't understand what they had said. And stranger still, he wasn't crying. He didn't feel like crying for his parents. He sat silently, head on his arms and listened to Steve's attempts at drawing him out. He wondered suddenly if they had been telling the truth and horribly the idea came to him that maybe it was all a joke. Maybe they were his parents' friends and they were all making fun of him. He shook his head. That didn't seem likely. Captain America wouldn't do that and he wouldn't hang out with people who did that.

He tried to think of why he shouldn't leave the bathroom and go back to the kitchen but couldn't think of a reason. Still, he didn't want to. He didn't want to leave the bathroom. Everyone had kept a huge secret form him and fooled him. He felt dumb. He should have figured it out. They probably all thought he was stupid. He felt tears prick his eyes. Maybe he was stupid. Even Barney had tricked him. He missed Barney.

Outside Steve sighed and put his hands on his hips. He couldn't for the life of him get the boy out of the bathroom. He sat down on the bed. "I'm sorry we didn't tell you. We were afraid that it'd scare you." Clint didn't say anything. "I know this has been a lot of information so if you want to go to sleep, you can. I'll leave you to it. . .Good night." He left and closed the door, feeling there was nothing more he could do.

He was met in the hall by Tony who stood looked grave. "I'm gonna call his brother. Maybe he'll talk to him."

"Yeah." They returned to the kitchen and Tony placed a call to Barney Barton. A sleepy voice answered on the other end.

"Yeah? Waht's up?"

"This is Tony Stark. I'm sending someone to come and get you. Grab an overnight bag, it's gonna be a long one."

There was a pause. "What's wrong? Something happen to Clint?"

"We told him what year it is and he's a little upset. Cap's shaking his head. He's really upset. He won't talk to any of us."

Barney cleared his throat. "Yeah. I'll be ready. Just come and get me."

Tony hung up the phone and dialed Happy on his cell, giving him the address. "Damn it. I knew we shouldn't have told him. And why'd you have to go and tell him his parents are dead like that!?" He rounded on Natasha.

"Should I have told him another lie?" She gave him an icy look.

"That's not what I'm trying to say. I'm saying that there were better ways than to just go: Oh and by the way, your folks are dead."

She frowned angrily. "Well then maybe you should have been the one to do it."

"Don't even try that, I was against it from the beginning."

Steve put up his hand. "You two aren't helping." He said. They fell silent. "What's done is done and Clint's very upset right now. He doesn't need you two arguing and neither do I. When Barney Barton gets here we'll explain the situation and see if Clint will talk to him."

There was nothing but silence after that until Tony got a message that Barney had arrived.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, Barney enters the story next chapter and just so every one knows I'm placing it kind of after Matt Fraction's run on Hawkeye so Clint and barney are getting along now.


	13. Chapter 13

Barney Barton arrived at Stark Tower in the late evening looking shabbily out of place. After being let out at the front doors by Happy he was lead upstairs by a disembodied voice calling it's self JARVIS. Not the strangest thing to happen in his life but it was up there. He was tired and not at all thrilled by the tone of voice Tony had had with him on the phone.

He was greeted by Natasha who lead him to the kitchen where he was faced with all the big shot Avengers. Ironman and Captain America stood out particularly amongst them. Not a sight that made a former supervillain feel comfortable. Captain America on the other hand held out his hand and shook it firmly.

"Thanks for coming out. Clint locked himself in his bathroom a bout an hour ago. After we told him what year it was."

Barney slid uneasily into a chair. The same chair Clint usually sat in. He put his hands on the table in a nonthreatening manner. "Is he real scared?"

"I don't know if scared is the right word. He's upset. He asked about your parents and we told him the truth. That was when he ran off." Bruce said, polishing his glasses. "It's not a good situation."

"I think he's hurt that we kept it a secret from him. He said something about lying and I guess he's right." Steve added, looking sad.

Barney ran a hand over his face, stubble catching on his palm. "I guess I should go talk to him then."

"I'll show you where his room is." Natasha said, standing. She lead the way quietly down the hall and stopped by a closed door. "Do you want anyone to come in with you?"

"Nah, he's my brother. I wanna talk to him."

She nodded. "If he won't open the door, JAVIS can override the locks. Just ask him."

Barney licked his lips and nodded. He knocked on the bedroom door but heard no answer. "Guess I'll just go in." For a split second her eyes looked very apologetic but then the look disappeared and she turned back to the kitchen.

Clint's room was dark and as Barney crossed to the bathroom he saw in the dark that there was a pile of toys in the corner. He smiled ruefully, glad his brother had something to play with. "Clint?" He said softly, knocking on the bathroom door with his knuckles. There was no answer. "Clint, it's Bareny." Still no answer sighing his looked up at the ceiling. "JARVIS? Can you. . . er. . . open the door?" There was a small click and the handle turned.

Peeking inside he saw that Clint had fallen asleep on the bathroom rug, curled up with his fists clenched next to his face. Looking down at a sight he hadn't seen in years Barney felt a surge of guilt. This was his little brother. How he had ever felt jealous of him was beyond his imagination. This was the little brother that he cared so deeply for that it hurt.

He crouched and shook his brother gently. Clint made a jerking movement and opened his eyes. He stared blurrily at the floor for a moment before his eyes focused and he looked up at Barney. Barney smiled, knowing he looked worse for ware. "Hey kiddo." He said softly.

"Who are you?" Clint asked softly.

"It's me, Barney. Barney all grown up."

The little boy sat up and rubbed his face. "You look old."

"I'm not that old."

Clint eyed him silently for a moment then straightened into a proper sitting position. "When did you get here?"

"Just now. I heard you wouldn't talk to anyone." Barney dropped down to sit opposite him."Can you tell me what's up?"

"They told me it's the future."

"Yeah. 2014."

"And they told me I'm supposed to be a grown up."

"Yeah."

"And they told me mom and dad are dead."

"Yeah." Barney sat quietly, remembering Clint's reaction to their parents' deaths as a child. Clint hadn't cried. He had said he was glad.

"How did they die?"

Barney looked at the floor. "Dad was driving drunk again. Guess he was a little more drunk than usual."

Clint gazed at his brother with big blue eyes. "I'm not sad." He said so quietly Barney had to strain to hear. "Am I gonna go to hell for not being sad?"

"No kiddo. You're not." Barney reached out and affectionately scratched behind his brother's ear. "You're a good kid Clint and you grow up to be a damn good man. A better man than me."

"Really?"

"Yeah. A much better man than me. You go places."

"Like Africa?"

Barney smiled at his brother's innocence. "Maybe, I dunno if you've ever been there. Probably. When you grow up you save people and people love you."

Clint looked at him strangely. "They do?"

"Yeah. I should know, I'm one of them."

"I save you?"

"Yeah and vise versa. I save you back sometimes."

Clint sat quietly looking down at the floor. "Can you spend the night?"

"Yeah, brought my tooth brush and everything."

"Can you stay with me?"

Barney squinted seriously. " 'Coarse I can."

And then, with slow determination Clint crawled towards him and gave him a loose hug. Barney squeezed back. "You ready for bed?" Clint nodded and Barney helped him up. It wasn't really that late but all of the evening's emotion had drained Clint to the point of exhaustion.

Half way there Clint stopped and gripped Barney's shirt. "Can you stay in my room?"

Feeling his heart break a little at the vulnerability in his brother's eyes Barney sighed and nodded. Funny to think, in just a few years time Clint would learn to hide that. He'd learned pretty fast to hide being scared from everyone except Barney. He'd always known when Clint was afraid. "Yeah I'll stay with you. Want me to camp on the floor?"

"No, we can share the bed."

A pang went through his heart. He'd done that sometimes when they were kids. If a fight had been really bad or he knew their dad was in an exceptionally foul mood he'd slept next to Clint. He had been a kid then, he couldn't really keep him safe but he had done his best. This was different though. He was grown up and he could make Clint feel safe, even if right now there was no one trying to hurt him.

"Okay. Clint. You go ahead and climb in, I'm gonna go brush my teeth and change." He left the room to go and grab his bag from the kitchen. The rest of the team was waiting.

"How is he?" Steve asked urgently.

"He's. . . he's better." Barney said lamely. "I'm gonna spend the night with him. He asked me to." He didn't ask permission. He wasn't going to leave Clint now, even if the others wanted him to. Obviously they did not want him to leave because no objections were raised.

"Thanks for coming." Tony said gruffly.

"No problem. He's my little brother."

After a quick 'night' he grabbed up his bag and returned to Clint's room. His brother was lying in bed watching the door, he did not smile when he saw Barney but he looked more at ease. "Just be a minute." He said, gesturing towards the bathroom door. Once shut inside of the bathroom he stared at himself in the mirror, completely disliking the whole situation. Everything made him feel emotionally raw. Seeing Clint again as a child made him think of things he's tried to forget. Seeing the brother he'd taken care of made him almost hate himself for the anger he'd put between them. Sure they got along now but he'd tried to kill Clint, hadn't he? And that was unforgivable. He felt sick thinking about it. How had he ever become so twisted that he'd forgotten the little boy he'd taught to stand up for himself?

"Barney?" A small voice called out.

He grunted to knock himself out of his thoughts. "Yeah, just a second." He dressed quickly and then hurried back out. Clint was sitting up in bed hugging his knees. Barney smiled warmly at him. "Sorry about taking so long." He said, climbing under the covers.

Clint settled down next to him and for a long time neither of them spoke. The Clint said: "I'm really glad you came."

Barney smiled sadly. "Me too."

This chapter made me kind


	14. Chapter 14

The next morning Barney awoke to see his brother deeply asleep, his mouth hanging open. He smiled a little and put his hands behind his head to think. He didn't know what to do. Next to him lay his five year old brother who was supposed to be a grown man. The damn kid had all of the fears and worries of his child self. He had all of the insecurities and naivetes of a kid too. He gazed around the room. There was a box of toys in the corner. Clint hadn't finished putting them away the night before. Lincoln Logs and a Lite Brite. That made him smile, he knew how much Clint had always wanted one as a kid. There was also a stack of papers and a box or crayons by the window. It was good that he was getting things to play with.

He looked down at his brother again and sighed. It had been hard to remember how small Clint had actually been. Somehow that had been lost to him. And suddenly his heart swelled up with the idea that he was the worst person for this. He hadn't been able to protect Clint as a kid and then he'd gone and become one more person to hurt him. But then, looking down at the kid, he knew he wouldn't be able to bring himself to leave him. This was his brother and he had to do right by him.

Silently he swung his legs out of bed and crept to the bathroom, leaving the door open so Clint would know where he was. A quick shower cleared his head and when he came back he found Clint sitting up in bed yawning. For a moment the boy looked surprised and then he wrinkled his nose. "You got old." He said.

Barney sighed happily and gave a little chuckle. "Not that old, kid."

There was a long pause and then Clint sighed. "Are they gonna be mad at me that I ran off?"

"No. Are you gonna be mad at them for keeping it a secret."

Clint looked down and Barney went to sit by him. "People keep secrets Clint, when they're most afraid the secret will hurt someone."

"I know."

"And those people out there are good people. You've told me about them. You always say stuff like how cool Captain America is and how much you like Natasha. You really like them and if you like them as an adult, I know they're trustworthy. I can't explain what an amazing person you grow up to be."

"Really?"

"Remember how I said you save people? How I said you save me? Well, sometimes I do bad things and you always stop me and lately, if it wasn't for you, I don't know where I'd be."

"Why do you do bad things?"

"I dunno. Maybe because I got a little bit of dad in me. I don't have to like it but he was still my dad and I can't say there's not a piece of him in me. Maybe he's in you too but you don't act like it. You rose above all of it."

Clint stared at him with wide eyes and then put his arms around his middle. "I like you Barney. Even as a grown up. I don't think you're bad."

He stroked the back of Clint's head. "That means a lot."

They sat for a moment before breaking apart. "We get along right?" Clint asked. "I mean, you wouldn't have come over we didn't get along."

Barney smiled sadly and said a half truth. "Yeah. We get along. Not all the time, sometimes we get into it, but yeah. For the most part."

Clint's brows came together. "We get into it?"

"Oh yeah, you're real stubborn. Won't do anything I say. You drink out of the milk jug and leave your dirty laundry everywhere. Actually, we've been living together."

Clint brightened. "We have? That's great." Suddenly he sat up, more cheerful. "Do I have a girlfriend?"

Barney laughed. "Well. . . I don't know about right now but you've had few. You always seem to attract girls who get you in trouble."

Clint looked confused and he had to laugh. "Don't worry, it's how you like 'em."

The boy wrinkled his face as though he thought Barney was crazy but didn't pursue the subject. "Do you want some breakfast?" He asked. "Everybody always eats breakfast here."

Barney smiled. "Yeah, let's go." It was a chance for him to see how things were faring for Clint. It was one thing for hm to live with the Avengers as and adult but quite another as a child and Barney cared for his brother. He wanted to make sure he was happy and safe. In his chest be felt bad because he knew that he couldn't care for Clint as well as these people could. He didn't have as much money and the apartment he and Clint lived in was a little more than run down, although that may have been chalked up to the adult Clint's poor house keeping skills.

Breakfast was a little awkward. Everyone was eying him him with suspicion and he couldn't blame them. Former Supervillain turned bum. Not really what you wanted around a little kid let alone at the breakfast table.

Clint was unusually quiet and somehow his down turned face and silence reminded Barney of family meals as a child. Finally when he could take it no more he turned to Steve. "So um, you're Captain America, huh?"

Steve nodded through a mouthful of toast. "Yeah." He said swallowing.

"Clint's talked about you. . . well, adult Clint's talked about you."

Steve finished eating. "Say anything good?"

"Whole lotta good."

"Gee," Steve rubbed the back of his neck and tried to catch Clint's eye. When all he got was a quiet, observant look he leaned down to the boy's level. "Hey, I'm really sorry about everything."

Clint glanced towards the floor and then back up. "I'm sorry too. Barney said it wasn't your fault for keeping a secret. I'm sorry I got mad."

Steve smiled. "It's okay. Can we still be friends again?"

Clint nodded and the faint hint of a smile pulled at his mouth. "Can Barney stay?" He asked.

"It's up to Tony." Steve said. Both of them turned to Tony who shrugged.

"Yeah, sure. Barton, you can have the room across from Clint's." In an undertone he added to Bruce: "Just what I need, another Barton." Bruce smiled wryly but kept his mouth shut.

After breakfast Clint ran to go get dressed and Barney was left at the table with the Avengers. "Guess you guys have been taking pretty good care of him then." He said awkwardly.

"We like to think so. You got a pretty fun little brother." Tony said. "I mean he grows up to be a bit of a jackass but as a kid he's alright."

Barney grinned. "Don't tell me what I already know. He's a pain in the ass. Stubborn as hell. But he was a sweet kid."

"We didn't know about your father." Steve said quietly.

Barney looked down at his hands. "Well, it doesn't look like any harm was done. To tell the truth he looks happier here than I ever saw him at this age." He felt a little jealous and thought maybe the others realized because several of them looked at him with pity and in a way it made him feel worse.

They hurried off to their respective activities and he was left alone. He sat for a while, feeling out of place and useless. The people here had been able to give Clint a safe and happy home. Something he had never been able to do. He didn't think he could have done more. For years he had done his best for Clint but it just hadn't been enough and when their parents had died something had changed between them. Then a succession of foster homes and youth centers had made things worse. They hadn't always been together and Barney knew Clint was good at making people angry. Clint was the one that got them shipped around. He just couldn't back down from a fight. Even when he knew was too little.

Barney felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up. It was Natasha. Her slender hand was a lie, he knew that. She was one of the most deadly women he had ever met. Still at that moment she looked down at him with gentle eyes. "Are you alright?"

He nodded. "Oh, yeah. Just thinking."

"Clint does that sometimes. It's not what he's best at. It isn't always good for him."

He stared at her. She was stunningly beautiful but with an approachability that kept her just barely within reach. Maybe that was why Clint had fallen so madly in love the first time he'd laid eyes on her. That had been a long time ago and a lot had changed since then but even now, Barney could see how it could happen.

She smiled. "I've found a lot of love for your brother."

"Kid him or adult him?"

"They're the same. When I was watching Clint the other day I saw his adult self in him."

Barney hung his head. "I don't really know him that well."

"Well, from what I've heard you've been given a chance to change that." She did not call it anything other than what it was. A second chance.

"Yeah."

"I think as he is now, having you here will make him quite happy."

"Yeah. I'll do what I can."

"You did something last night that none of us could do."

"H-he's my brother and I just did what I used to."

She smiled and squeezed his shoulder. "You did a good thing."

They were interrupted by the return of Clint and Steve. Barney smiled at his brother who smiled back.

"Barney, you better get him away from me or I'm gonna know all of your secrets." Steve said with a laugh.

Clint came and sat next to his brother at the table, watching him closely as Natasha left the room. "So, what do you do here?" Barney asked.

They boy counted on his fingers. "I got to the park and I watch movies and I play in my room. . ." He paused looking thoughtful.

"We haven't gotten around to too much." Steve added.

"Well it sounds like a good time." Barney said.

Clint twisted his hands together in a familiar way Barney knew meant he wanted to asked something. "What is it?"

"Well. . . can I see a picture of grown up me?"

Barney looked at Steve who nodded. "I don't see why not."

After a moment of fishing through JARVIS's files they picked one of Clint that looked suspiciously as though it had come from instagram.

Clint took the phone Barney handed him and looked it over. He examined himself closely. "Like what you see?" Barney asked.

Clint flipped to the next one. It was his adult self's instagram. He stopped on one that looked like it was from a cook out. Barney looked at it and made a face. His adult sized brother was standing in swim trunks and a snorkel mask with no shirt on cooking a hot dog over a burning barrel with an arrow. In the background he could see the girl Kate Bishop talking to someone else and a pool behind her. "Looks like he took a selfie." Barney said, trying to laugh at the picture.

"Not really a fan of those." Steve said. He still hadn't found the need to take a photo of himself every chance he got, although he thought it was nice to have a pocket camera.

Clint looked up from the picture with a smile. "I look good when I grow up!" He said.

Barney made a face. "I don't know about that." He said, teasing.

Clint continued to flip through the photos. He found another of himself in a Halloween costume. "You like that one?" Barney asked.

Clint studied his picture some more and nodded. "How come I got a bow in some of these?"

"Oh well, you got really into archery. We both did."

"Who's better?"

Barney bit his lip. It killed him to admit but Clint was. "You are." He said.

Clint's whole face lit up. "You mean I'm better than you at something?"

It was just innocent enough not to stir up any feelings of jealousy. "Yeah. I'm close though."

Clint smiled. "Can you show me sometime?"

"Actually he can right now, if he's up to it. There's a special shooting range for archery in the gym." Steve said.

Barney rubbed the back of his neck. "I didn't bring my stuff." He said.

Steve gestured towards the hall with his eyes. "I think we can find you something."

Barney nodded. "Yeah, sure. I'll show off a little."

Steve disappeared down the hall and must have gone to the adult Clint's room because he came back with a bow and a quiver full of arrows. Barney examined it. "There are a couple others down in the gym." Steve said. "So if that's not the one you'd prefer he's got a few other types down there."

Barney held it out for Clint to see. "This is a compound bow, see? You and I both tend to use these a lot." Curiously Clint reached out a hand and touched pulleys on the end. "This is a pretty well used one but it looks like you take good care of it. You wanna go down and see me shoot?"

His brother beamed and nodded. And the two of them followed Steve down to the elevator and down to the gym.

"Over in the back, behind the boxing ring." Steve said. He knocked aside a punching bag and stepped over a set of dumbbells someone had left out. "Tony put it back here so he could have it next to the shooting gallery. Natasha uses that the most but I do too, I think it's good to keep my aim up and I've seen you use it." He smiled at Clint who was looking at a used target paper that had been taped to the wall. Someone, presumably himself of Natasha had recreated the Lethal Weapon smiley face scene by shooting a face onto the head of the silhouette. Barney laughed at it, guessing it had probably been Clint who's sense of humor was bad enough to think it was funny.

They stepped over to the end where a separate but much narrower gallery stood, with room for only two or three people. Against the wall hung several different types of bows and color coded stands of arrows. Crouching down to look at his brother's belongings, Barney selected a blunt tipped arrow and held it out to Clint. "This is a practice arrow. It's not as dangerous but you have to be careful 'cause it can still kill someone." Clint listened to him seriously and he found himself remembering how invested he got learning new things. Especially when he was a kid. He turned the arrow around. "It's got plastic fletchings on the end, most do unless you wanna spend a lot on real feathers or make 'em yourself. And see the nock is curved to fit around the string. That keeps it on better when you're shooting." He indicated the notched end.

"Stand back." Steve said, as Barney nocked his arrow and drew back. "He grinned down at his brother and let lose. The arrow sailed to the far end of the gallery and hit the center target. Clint clapped. "That was nothing." Barney said, picking up another. "We both got pretty good at trick shots." He turned his body and head away and aimed at a target he couldn't see, hitting the bullseye with ease. "You can do the robin hood thing, you know, splitting an arrow down the middle with another. I haven't mastered that yet though." He browsed through the clusters of arrows until he found some trick ones. Fishing a lighter out of his pocket he set one ablaze and shot it towards the target. Clint clapped again.

"Wow! Were did we learn to do that?"

"Circus. You and me ran away and joined a carnival wen we were teens."

Steve laughed as Barney switched bows and demonstrated how to shoot more than one arrow at a time eventually working up to three. "Trick shots like this are best done with a recurve bow, see?" He fired away, impressing his brother and in some way, finding it relaxing.

After a while they cleaned up and Clint wondered around the gym. He had never been in one before and was curious about the different types of equipment. While Barney cleaned and put things away Steve showed him around. "Tony uses the fancy stuff." He said, gesturing to the treadmill and a few of the weight lifting contraptions. "I mostly use the old fashioned stuff. Bench press, dumbbells, punching bag, speed bag. Stuff like that."

Clint looked around, he spotted the boxing ring and walked towards it.

"Wanna get up there?" Steve asked.

Clint nodded and he gave him a leg up. Steve picked up the focus mitts and put them on. "Gimme a punch." He said.

Clint looked at them for a minute before swinging back and hitting the mitt. He tottered off balance and had to right himself. "Good one." Steve said. "We use these for training so no one gets hurt." Truth be told, he'd barely felt Clint's punch but he didn't feel like telling him that. "Real boxers use them too." He let Clint deliver a few more punches, pretending to be pushed back by them before Barney loped over and hung on the ropes watching.

"Get him." Barney teased.

Clint turned and waved before giving his best punch and toppling over. "And he's down!" Barney cried in an imitation of an announcer's voice. "Barton's down. All his brother can do is watch as the once promising boxer lies on the mat, knocked out by his own punch."

Clint laughed and climbed to his feet. "I'm okay!" He called.

Barney grinned. "Okay, champ I see how it is. You coulda been a contender. All that." He helped his brother out of the ring and they returned to the upstairs.

With all of the excitement and the thrill of seeing his brother Clint seemed to have left his bad feelings behind. He stuck close to Barney as though he was afraid his brother would disappear and was a little clingy but Barney didn't mind. It felt good to have somebody depend on him again. For too long he had felt like a bum and for too long he had had to depend on other people. It took something away from him, living like that.

They spent the rest of the day out at the park and ate lunch at a small restaurant. Tony had given them enough money to live a month on for the day and although tempted, they did not go on a spending spree. At the end of the day they returned to the tower, Clint sitting on Barney's shoulders. He looked happy and alive as he did so and even Barney who'd spent most of the time slumped over was looking much happier.

"How was everything?" Tony asked as he set Clint down.

Barney looked up. "It was fine."

"Cap told me you went down to the shooting range earlier."

"Yeah," Barney rubbed the back of his neck. "Had to show off while I'm still a better shot."

Tony nodded. He did not entirely trust Barney but he was glad that he'd gotten Clint out of his room and having someone around to watch the kid made it easier for the Avengers to get their real job done. He just wasn't sure he trusted the guy who'd tried to kill Clint to now take care of him and somehow it didn't seem like any of the others felt the same way. None of them had even mentioned the concern since Barney's arrival.

"You know we only called you cause we didn't have a choice, right?" Tony said tentatively. He was not looking to offend, only to make clear.

Barney nodded. "Figured."

"And I'm gonna tell you right now, I'm not thrilled with you being here. One you're a thief, two you've tried to kill him in the past and I can't even list all of the other things you've done."

Barney stood in the kitchen, listening to the accusations. He had expected them and honestly he was glad they cared enough about Clint to make them. Besides, it was only fair. He had done all of those things. "Yeah." He said quietly. He wasn't going to explain that he was done with that part of his life or that he was trying to turn himself around. He wasn't even going to tell that he had been homeless for a real long time now. He didn't have a right to expect Tony to believe him, after all he had done nothing so far to prove himself. Instead he shrugged. "Glad you called though. It isn't every day I get to see my brother reduced to an elementary student."

Tony looked a little thrown, he had expected denial or rationalization or even excuses but somehow, Barney's complete acceptance of what he'd done was a relief. "Well, I can't say it's been easy. I did scare him pretty good the other day."

"Yeah well, he's over that. He's tough and he's not going to hold on to something like that." The atmosphere relaxed.

"I'll take your word for it. You know him better than I do."

Barney smiled. "I guess. He's so much more relaxed here. I've only spent one day with him and he's so damn happy. He was never like this at home. He was always so angry."

Tony frowned and leaned against the wall. "I don't know everything about your family but it sounds like you two had it tough."

Barney nodded. "Clint especially. Dunno why but he never knew when to stay down. Always knew the wrong thing to say though."

Tony looked away considerately. "I could see that."

Barney smiled. "Yeah, guess you could."

They stood in the hall for a moment before Tony excused himself to go and head back to his lab and Barney wondered away to find his brother.


	15. Chapter 15

The next day posed a problem. Tony awoke everyone with a message saying they needed to assemble in the briefing room. Barney and Clint tagged along after Steve said it would be okay for them to be in the room. Tony stood at a computer looking more irritated than anything else and Clint worried that something had gone wrong.

"Okay, we just got a distress call from the Friends of Humanity. Maybe some of you don't know them, they're an ant-mutant extremist group. Mostly the X-Men deal with them but this morning we got a call saying that apparently, though no fault of their own, several sentinel robots have been reactivated and are wrecking havoc in the Midwest. I don't think anyone believes that but the sentinel's are real enough." He clicked a key and a holographic screen began playing footage of a giant robot smashing a few dozen trees. "Here's where it gets fun. These morons hate mutants so much that they asked us to only send non-superpowered Avengers to help." Bruce put a hand to his head as though it suddenly hurt. "Ok. I normally would say screw them but sentinels do their best work against people with powers and think in this case it's probably best to send only humans. "Sorry Bruce, you're out. Tell the big guy I said sorry too. I know how much he'd have enjoyed smashing a few of Trask Industries' best work. Thor's in Asguard not that. "Looks like it's me and Cap."

Suddenly seized by a desire to be useful Barney stepped forward. "Can I help any?"

Tony frowned as though he had not considered this. "Hm. Actually you can. Clint. . . grown up Clint has some electromagnetic arrows that knock out machinery. Grab those and meet me on the roof."

Next to Barney Clint looked up in surprised. "You're gonna go fight a robot?" He asked.

Barney put an arm around him and squeezed. "Gotta. I know you would and what kind of brother would I be if I couldn't live up to that?"

Clint gave him a quick hug back.

"Where's Natasha?" Tony asked, looking around. "It'd be nice to have her."

"She's on a solo assignment." Bruce said. "She left a message saying she'd gotten a personal request for help from someone and ran off last night."

"Oh well, not like we could have used back up or anything." Tony sighed. "Alright, lets go."

Clint watched his brother leave on the Quin Jet with worry. Bruce was the only Avenger staying behind while Natasha was still off on her solo job and Thor was in Asguard. He held back timidly, worried about his brother. Glancing up Bruce was watching the jet leave with folded arms. He hung his head. He didn't think Bruce liked him. The man wasn't mean or angry with him but at the same time he was the most distant of all of the Avengers and had avoided being around Clint by himself.

Clint looked up at Bruce nervously. "A-are they gonna be okay?" He asked.

Bruce looked down with apprehension. "Of course. They know what they're doing. Tony and Steve have faced hundreds of people worse than a robot." Clint nodded uncertainly. "And Barney will do just fine. Do you want to go inside now? I can put on a movie."

Clint nodded and followed him back inside. He had never really been nervous about the others going off but somehow when it was his brother he was much ore concerned. Bruce felt for him but held himself back. It wasn't that he didn't like the boy but everything about him made him afraid. He was terrified of going Hulk around the child and every fear and worry Clint possessed he understood and knew too well. It hurt to watch Clint flinch and jump because he felt those same movements in himself.

Inside Clint settled onto the couch and Bruce turned on a movie and left him. He'd rather have been down in the lab or really anywhere else. He was sure he would do something wrong and it so utterly scared him how easily the Hulk could crush the boy. He didn't think it was safe for him to be around Clint and if there had been any other way he would have requested someone else babysit.

With nothing else to do he settled himself in the kitchen with a laptop and messaged Hank Pym who reported that he had hit a dead end and the residue from the particles in Clint's blood was disintegrating. Through a video communication Bruce sighed. "Do you need a new blood sample?"

Hank ran a hand through his hair. "It might be too late. They might have already disappeared from his blood stream. Then again, his body might be incubating them at some level."

"I'll see if I can get Clint to give me another blood sample."

"Okay but I don't expect too much. Is everything okay with him, he's not showing any unusual fever spikes or anything?"

"No, he's been fine. Should we watch for that?"

"No. Yes. Honestly I have no idea what you should be looking for."

Bruce rubbed his eyes. "What's Reed got?"

Hank's expression turned a little sour. "He keeps going on about bringing the particles back with him but he's having trouble locating the exact dimension he found them in. turns out he found it the first time by accident."

Bruce didn't comment on the tone of voice which clearly said Hank thought Reed was full of it and was maybe a little pleased at the other's dilema. "Well anyway, I'll let you know on that blood sample."

"M'kay. I'll be here."

He clicked off and sighed. The last thing he wanted to do was cause Clint any pain and he was terribly afraid that if he did the boy would become afraid of him. Inside he felt the Hulk rumble at his weakness. He pushed the thought aside and stepped into the living room. Clint was sitting cross legged on the couch, staring at the television with rapt attention. Bruce glanced over long enough to see Lynda Carter transform into Wonder Woman in a flurry of motion. "Clint," He said tentatively. The boy looked up. "Clint I was wondering if you would be okay with a quick blood sample."

Clint bit his lip. He didn't like the sound of that.

"I mean, a shot. Just a quick one."

"Why?"

"Well, we need to check to see if the stuff that turned you into a kid is still inside your blood." One glance told him everything he'd just said had gone over the boy's head. "Well. . . it's so we can make sure everything is okay."

Clint frowned but nodded. Bruce was very serious and so he guessed that whatever he was saying was probably important.

"We can do it right here." Bruce said. "Can you roll up your sleeve for me?"

Clint did as he was told and for the first time Bruce saw the shadow of a mostly healed bruise on the boy's wrist. He felt the Hulk strain in anger and averted his eyes from it, focusing instead on tying a tourniquet around Clint's upper arm. Clint made a face when the tourniquet was tightened but remained still. Bruce removed a syringe from his jacket pocket. "This might sting a little but I promise it won't take long."

Clint nodded and looked away, biting his lip as the needle slid into his vein. "Mm." He whimpered.

Bruce smiled encouragingly at him. "Almost done." He drew back the plunger, letting the syringe fill slowly. Finally he removed the needle with as little discomfort as possible and taped a cotton ball over the vein. "Good job. I'll be right back. I'm going to go grab you some orange juice. You're gonna feel a little funny and it will help."

Slightly dazed, Clint nodded, leaning back into the couch.

In the kitchen Bruce put up the vile up and grabbed a glass. Clint had been remarkably calm through the procedure. He was impressed, most kids squirmed and complained. Spotting a pack of Oreos he grabbed them off the counter and returned to the living room. Clint was sitting back in the cushions looking pale.

"Here, drink up. It'll make you feel better."

The boy immediately gulped down some juice and twisted apart a cookie. "You're supposed to drink milk with Oreos." He said, making a face.

Bruce smiled and went and changed his drink. "Here."

Clint smiled happily and dunked his cookie. "Do you want one?" He asked.

Bruce returned his smile tentatively and took a cookie, twisting it apart and dunking the half without icing. "Thanks."

"Do you not like me?" Clint asked suddenly, ducking his head as he did so.

Bruce swallowed carefully. "I do like you, Clint and I'm sorry if it seems that I don't."

"Well, you just never talk to me and I thought you didn't like me."

"I don't really know how to be around children. And to be honest you remind me a lot of myself at your age."

Clint looked up at him with a curious expression. "Is that bad? Cause I don't mean to."

"No it's not bad and it's not your fault. My father wasn't a very nice man. Like yours."

Clint gave him a compassionate look. "So I make you think about him?"

"Yes and no. You don't so much make me think of him as you make me think about myself. I suppose it's selfish of me to avoid you for something like that."

"Oh. I'm sorry."

Bruce reached out a hand and ruffled the boy's head. Clint leaned into the affection. "Don't be. It's not so bad."

"Really?"

"Really." And inside he felt the Hulk settle a little more. "I think maybe I've been a little too selfish. Can I spend the day getting to know you?"

Clint nodded seriously. "We can play the question game."

Bruce smiled a little. "I don't know that game. How do you play?"

Getting up on his knees to explain Clint cleared his throat importantly. "We each think of ten questions and write them down and then we take turns asking them. I learned it the first day of school."

Bruce smiled again. "Alright. I'll get a pad of paper." It was really quite charming. They sat for a moment in silence with the tv muted while they wrote. Glancing over he saw Clint had large childish writing and misspelled multiple words. Then finally Clint looked up saying he was done.

"You go first." The boy said shyly.

Bruce chuckled a little and looked down at his paper. He had picked simple questions he knew Clint could answer. "What's your favorite color?" He asked.

"Purple." Clint grinned excitedly. "My turn! Do you have any dogs?"

"No, Tony doesn't like pets in the tower. Do you?"

"No. Dad won't let me have one."

Bruce frowned but continued the game, after a while they finished and went to get lunch. Most of the questions had been simple and easy, what he had expected from Clint or really any child his age but it was nice to see that he was creative. "You must be really smart." Clint said, kicking his feet at the kitchen table.

Bruce laughed a little embarrassed, but secretly pleased. "I like to think so."

Clint shrugged off his modesty. "I think that's really cool. I'm not very smart."

"You don't think you're smart?"

"I get a lot of stuff wrong in school."

Bruce leaned forward across the table. "That doesn't mean you're not smart. Lots of people don't do well in school. It just takes them a little longer to understand the subject." He of course had never had that problem. He'd always gotten things right off the bat and had managed to be miles ahead of his classmates. Still, he didn't like seeing someone so small so down on themself.

"I'm sure you're much smarter than you're giving yourself credit for. What's your favorite class in school?"

"I like gym cause everyone always picks me for their team. I'm really good at sports."

Bruce smiled. "What about academic subjects?"

"What's academic?"

"The classes you use books for."

"Oh. I like reading okay. I like hearing stories."

Bruce smiled. He knew Clint wasn't as smart as he or Tony and probably not as smart as Natasha and most people would say he wasn't even as smart as Steve but he wasn't stupid. Most of the time he just didn't think and anyway, he had a heart to make up for it. It made sense he probably hadn't liked school too much. "I liked math."

Clint made a face. "I don't like math. I'm not good at it."

"It just takes some work."

"Yeah, I know. That's what my teacher says. She says I don't try and sometimes I don't. You won't tell Barney that will you? He'll get mad. He doesn't make good grades either but he says I should."

"I won't. He's good to tell you that though. Sometimes when we fail it's important to us that we keep the people we care about from doing the same."

Clint ate quietly, thinking about that. It made sense to him and the more he thought about it the more he wanted to be that kind of person. "Am I a nice guy when I grow up?"

"Yes, nice enough. You're a lot to be around. You have a lot of energy. But yes, you're a good person." He didn't say that Clint could be a bit of an asshole at times, he didn't think that was important. He knew Clint was a good person at heart and that was what mattered and spending time with him as a child only furthered this belief.

"Can we watch more tv?" Clint asked.

"Are you sure you don't want to take a break or anything?"

"We can play a game."

"What would you like to play?"

"Can we play Candy Land."

Bruce cringed inwardly at the game but nodded. "Sure." They spent the rest of the day playing games and watching tv and Bruce found himself enjoying his time with Clint. The boy was sweet and much smarter than he gave himself credit for and he slowly began to feel as though he knew what he was doing with the kid.


	16. Chapter 16

Barney's day went much less smoothly. The morons in the Friends of Humanity had managed to restart three Sentinels and the damn things were tearing up the country side. He was firing arrow after arrow at the robots, only managing to stop one arm on the Sentinel closest to him.

They had arrived under a hailstorm of firing. All around them the robots had been attacking the town, trying to reach whatever mutants lived within.

"Barton, aim for the neck and joints. I can see exposed wiring. Trask oughtta be ashamed." Tony yelled.

Barney did as he was told, narrowly dodging a blast from the Sentinel's hand. "Sheee-it!" He yelped as he rolled over a rock and banged his arm painfully.

"I think I'm finding new respect for Scott Summers. How that guy keeps from just blasting these guys I'll never know!" Tony yelled as sever FOH members stood by and watched the destruction. "Goddam, Trask built these things near indestructible."

Cap's shield bounced off the head of a one armed Sentinel knocking it back. He caught it and slammed it again, this time severing the head.  
"That's what I'm talking about!" Tony yelled, blasting his personal Sentinel with both hands. "Eat repulser beams."

The Sentinel spun backwards and began to try and raise it's palm to fire another blast but Barney stopped it with an arrow directly to the firing center. The bomb in the arrow detonated and the hand blew up.

"Good one!"

The fight dragged on for another hour, eventually ending with all three Sentinel's disarmed and Tony shouting profanities at the FOH while Steve tried to drag him away.

"How the hell did you even get them? Why the hell did you think this was a good idea? If the X-Men show up and burn your asses to the ground I'm not even going to try and stop them! You destroyed half the town!"

Barney took a seat outside the ruined head quarters. How Clint managed to fight things like this on a daily schedule was beyond him.

"Feeling okay?" Steve asked, abandoning his attempt at reining in Tony.

"Yeah. Drained. You guys are crazy."

"Well, we don't fight giant robots everyday. I'm not sure why the X-Men didn't catch this. It's normally their thing."

"Crazy."

Steve laughed. "A little maybe. Clint does okay with it and he doesn't have any superpowers ether."

"Yeah, he's crazy too. "

They laughed.

"You think he'll be okay with just Dr. Banner?"

"I think so. Bruce was hesitant to babysit but I think he'll do a fine job."

"I'll take your word for it. So what do we do now?"

"Well, Tony's gonna take his time dismantling the rest of the Sentinels so I was planning on going into town and helping with the clean up. There are some fires that need putting out. Think you're up to helping?"

"I can do that." They headed into town in time to see the courthouse being doused with water.

"Need a hand?" Steve offered to the firemen and police stationed around.

A cop who looked as though it was his first day eyes' nearly jumped out of his head and he shook Steve's hand enthusiastically. "Y-yes sir!"

"Great, what can we do?"

They set to work clearing debris out of the street, kids popping up every now and then to gape at Captain America as they did.

Eventually Tony joined them, saying he was having the remaining parts of the Sentinels shipped back to Stark Industries for final dismantlement. "We done here?" He asked.

"Guess so." Steve said, looking around. They had gotten the main road mostly cleared with the help of the police and several clean up crews. "Quin Jet ready?"

"Fired up."

The ride back was a grateful reprive from the constant work of the day. Barney sat in the back of the jet feeling dead on his feet. He'd been out of the game for too long. A lengthy prison sentence and his time on the streets had not diminished his aim but it had certainly left him winded and the fact that he was covered in grime form cleaning didn't make him feel better. Still, Stark seemed to feel that he'd done something to redeem himself and was talking to him a much more friendly way now.

"Showers all around. You stink Barton. I dunno what it is about archers but you people always manage to wrack up some impressive B.O. in the field."

Barney gave his poor joke a pained smile and put his head between his knees to catch his breath. "I could use a beer if you've got any."

"Yeah, there's some scattered around the tower. I'll leave it to you to find, I don't touch the stuff anymore."

Barney gave him a mildly impressed look. He always respected it when someone cut themselves off from a bottle

"I've got some." Steve said. "It's better stuff than what Clint put's in the fridge."

Barney grinned, still feeling worn out. "That'd be great." Every muscle in his body hurt and his arms were aching.

When they returned to the tower Clint was watching a movie with Bruce and the two of them had just finished a puzzle. Barney gave his brother a smile and almost signed that he was going to take a shower but caught himself and just said he would be right back. Living with Clint for the past month had gotten him used to signing things. Clint had a nasty habit of forgetting to buy new batteries for his hearing aid and sometimes didn't wear it just for the heck of it. Barney thought he might have been doing it to annoy him and had once when he was complaining about Clint never doing the dishes caught him pretending he didn't have it in when he did. His brother could be sneaky and as he stripped off the uniform he'd borrowed he found himself laughing.

The shower was a blessing. Steve had made them stay almost the whole day and help clean up. He wouldn't hear of leaving before they at least had the main road clear. A regular do-gooder.

He was using his guest room's bathroom. Tony had told him all of the rooms had their own bathroom and it was nice to have a clean shower. It was great that Clint let him live with him but if he'd just clean his house once in a while he wouldn't complain.

Trapped with his thoughts in the steam he thought that maybe he had earned a little trust from the Avengers. Tony had been more congenial and Steve seemed to think he had proved his worth. He shut off the water and stepped out, toweling off and dressing quickly he headed back to the living room where Clint was sitting between Natasha and Bruce, telling Natasha about his day.

"He grinned and leaned in the doorway, listening quietly. Even if it wasn't supposed to be like this, Clint was happy and that made him happy.

"Did you stop the robots?" Clint asked suddenly, noticing him in the doorway.

"Sure did. Helped anyway."

And then Clint gave him a huge smile and he knew that for the first time in a long time that he was his brother's hero.


	17. Chapter 17

Bruce announced the next day that late in the night Hank Pym had messaged him saying he'd made astounding possess with the new blood samples. "He says it's not ready for testing yet but that Clint's body was incubating dormant particles in his blood stream."

Tony kicked back in his seat. "Bet Reed's pissed."

"I'm not going to speculate."

"Means 'yes'."

"Anyway, according to Hank, Clint's blood was keeping the particles alive but dormant and he's trying to reactivate them so he can get them to give back what was taken."

"Did Hank say how long his body will host the particles?" Tony asked, this time seriously.

"He says they have a shelf life and are slowly dying inside him. He says in a matter of months the particles will be completely gone. But with the ones he's isolated from Clint's blood stream he should be able to reverse the process and repair the damage."

Steve sat back n his seat. "So it shouldn't take too long then? I know Pym works fast."

"No, I don't think it'll take too long at all."

There was a long pause, it was what they wanted, everything returned to normal and Clint to be an adult again but there was no denying that in the time spent with the boy-Clint a certain level of attachment had been formed.

"I guess Hank will let us know when he's got it down." Tony said.

"Yeah."

Natasha looked out the window quietly. "I think I'll miss him like this."

Barney nodded, he understood. Of course he didn't know that Clint had helped her find the maternal instinct she thought she'd lost but in a way he understood what she meant better than any of them.

"Guess we'll just keep going like we have been until then." Tony said. "Who's spending the day with him? I have a business meeting at noon so I'm out."

"I can." Barney said.

"I think I'll stay with you." Natasha said quietly.

Steve smiled. "Think we should throw him a party before he changes back?"

"I don't think that's a bad idea." Tony mused, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

Natasha turned to Barney as the others left the room. "Would you like to do anything special today?"

He shrugged. "We could take Clint to a zoo. Guess he's like that."

She smiled. "I think so too."

Not even two hours later they had the boy dressed and out the door. He hugged close to Barney as they walk but shot curious glances over at Natasha, looking away quickly when she caught his eye.

To Clint, it was the perfect start to a day. He was going somewhere exciting with his brother and with Natasha whom he liked very much. He walked between them, clinging to his brother unconsciously.

His day with Bruce had eased his fears that the people in the tower would not like him and now that he had Barney he was sure they wouldn't send him away. And he old himself, that if they did send him away Barney would take care of him. Barney had always done his best to take care of him. Sometimes he'd felt like he just irritated his brother, especially when Barney was off with his friends but he'd never felt like Barney hated him and if he and Barney got into a fight it was nothing like a fight with his father. The difference was, he could hit back. Barney may have been bigger and ultimately always won but he never felt helpless when they fought each other.

But now, on a sunny day, walking between his big brother and a woman he thought was the prettiest woman in the world he couldn't have been happier.

"What would you like to see first?" Natasha asked him once they reached the zoo. She was looking at a map while Barney stood looking out at the animal enclosures.

Clint thought for a moment. "I wanna see a tiger!" He said.

"Actually that's pretty close, good choice."

They headed off, Clint holding his hands over his eyes to block the sun. Natasha smiled at Barney who was following after, hands in his pockets. "I think you picked a very good way to spend the day."

He grinned. "Thought he'd like it."

Clint spent five whole minutes looking at the tigers.

"He looks like Calvin and Hobbs." Barney laughed. Natasha smiled.

"What next?" She asked.

"Penguins!"

And so they headed to the penguin enclosure. After a moment of studying the birds Clint looked up. "Natasha, are there penguins in Russia?"

"Only in zoos." She said.

"Wow! This is my first time seeing a penguin not on tv."

After that they saw the bears, the lions, the monkeys and elephants before stopping for lunch at a kiosk.

Clint sat between them at a picnic table eating happily. They had let him see every animal he'd wanted. Thinking about it he thought that that was a bit unusual for his brother but there was something different about Barney anyway. He chalked it up to Barney being grown up now.

"I'd like to see the aquarium." Natasha said thoughtfully, interrupting his reflections.

Clint didn't care too much about fish but he though that since she'd let him drag her around to see what he wanted it was only fair and anyway, he didn't want to make her mad or anything. "Okay. Do they have sharks?"

"Yes, I think so." She said, looking at a brochure.

He caught his brother's eye and grinned. "Cool!" Barney returned his smile, looking honestly interested himself. As they stood to head towards the aquarium he offered Clint a chance to ride on his shoulders. His brother instantly seized the opportunity and was delighted to see above the crowd.

Natasha smiled her smile that always made it seem as though she knew some secret joke. While the boys watched the sharks she took her chance to look at the exotic fish she'd wanted to see. Across the aquarium she could hear them talking a little too loudly but there were only a few people there and they didn't seem bothered.

"Wow!" Clint exclaimed, which seemed to be his remark for every new animal they saw. The glass wall of the shark tank reached the ceiling and situated on his brother's shoulders he was at eye level with a great big hammerhead shark.

Barney laughed. "Think he'll fit in a fish bowel?" He asked.

"Maybe a great big one."

"Dunno if we can get one of those at the pet store. Have to ask."

They stood someone before Barney's shoulders grew tired and he bounced Clint around to get the feeling back. Clint laughed delightedly and to Barney it was such a free happy sound he thought he might never have heard it before.

They returned to the sunlight outside and Barney suggested that they get ice cream, wanting more than anything to hear his brother laugh so joyously again. It worked and even though Clint ordered a vanilla because he knew it it was the cheapest thing on the menu, he still laughed freely. Barney shared his chocolate with him, demanding a little bit of vanilla just to make it fare. He was careful to stay a brother. He wasn't a father and he didn't really want to make it harder for Clint to relate to him than it already was.

The zoo trip eventually came to and end and although Natasha offered to get him something from the gift shop Clint declined.

They returned to the tower in good spirits, Clint talking excitedly.

When they reached the elevator a blonde man was standing tapping his fingers anxiously. He looked over at them in surprise. "Natasha." He said, eyes going instantly to Clint. The boy shrank away.

"Dr. Pym." She said pleasantly. A tremor ran through her heart. If Pym was at the tower it mean he had either perfected his new particles or was nearly there. She immediately shut the new feelings down. It was not her place to keep Clint a child and anything other than wanting full restoration was selfish. She shook Pym's hand.

"Is that Barton?" He asked.

Clint hugged his brother's legs and Barney put a hand on the back of his head. "Yeah, this is Clint. Who're you?"

"This is Dr. Henry Pym." Natasha said, noting the defensive way Barney was standing in front of his brother.

Barney nodded. "Oh, yeah." He shook Pym's hand.

Hank smiled. "Going up?" He asked as the doors opened. They stepped into the elevator. "Well, I came to see things for myself. I also and pretty close to fixing the particles."

Natasha cleared her throat and gestured towards Clint with her eyes.

"Oh, sorry. Anyway, I wanted to talk to Dr. Banner about our project."

She smiled with approval. "He'll be in his lab. Do you want to get off on that floor?"

"Oh yeah. That'd be fine."

The elevator dinged and he smiled. "Nice meeting you Clint." he nodded at Barney.

Natasha watched him go and Clint relaxed. "He's alright." She said to him. He nodded but did not look convinced.

Barney brushed a hand over his brother's head. "You wanna watch tv for a little bit?" He asked.

Clint smiled and nodded. "Yeah!"

The two of them headed of to the living room and Natasha took the elevator back down to the lab to hear what Hank had to say.

"Unbelievable. He really is just kid." Hank was saying. "I had to see it for myself before we turn him back."

"You said you were close." Natasha interrupted.

"Yeah, I've been running some tests with lab mice and I think I've got a good understanding of the particles. I'm reversing them as we speak."

"When do you think you'll have them ready?"

"Well I was telling Bruce just that. In a day or two most likely."

She nodded and sank onto a stool. "Will he remember the past week?"

"He should. He'll age into an adult again, that should take about three minutes. You won't have to shock him this time, before he had his whole life to lose but he can't age past where he left off. Anyway, he'll remember this week perfectly. He might have a fever again after he returns to usual but that seems to be a side effect of the process I haven't worked out and it only lasts a day so he'll recover. Also he may have headaches for a few days but that's just from his thought process returning to normal and the sudden reintroduction of his memories."

She nodded, taking it all in. "I see."

Bruce checked his watch. "Did you want to give hi a quick examination before you leave?"

Hank nodded. "If that's okay. I just want to see the full effects of the particles on a human being."

"I think it would be alright. Although he just a normal child. Also, watch what you say. We haven't explained everything to him. We told him there was an accident but he doesn't know how it happened. I don't think it'd really hurt him to know but if it's going to be put right soon I think it would just be better to explain when he's an adult."

Hank nodded and they had Barney bring Clint down. He his behind his brother's legs, peeking out carefully.

Bruce knelt down. "Clint, do you think you could hop up on a stool for us? Doctor Pym here would like to give you a check up?"

Clint glanced up at hank curiously and motioned with one finger for Bruce to come closer. 'will I get a shot?" He asked.

Bruce chuckled. "No shots today."

The boy nodded and climbed onto the stool. Instead of taking his temperature Hank sat down opposite him. "Actually, I just want to talk." He asked Clint several questions bout his date of birth, what grade he was in, and then questions about what he liked and disliked. Finally they let Clint and Barney g back upstairs and he grinned. "Amazing. Really. He's completely reverted to his child self."

Bruce smiled exasperatedly. "I told you."

Hank suddenly became much more serious. "You know these particles could be the secret to immortality."

Bruce frowned. "You'd never die but you'd lose half of your life every time you made yourself younger."

"But think of the possibilities. If I could find a way around that. . ."

Natasha got to her feet smiling. "I'll leave you to it." She didn't agree with Pym. Death was a part of life. It was a finality and some finalities shouldn't be messed with.


	18. Chapter 18

They discussed how they were going to talk Clint into returning to an adult that night after Hank Pym had left.

"I think we should be outright about it." Steve said. He'll remember when he's back to normal and there's no sense in lying."

"What if he doesn't agree?" Tony said.

"Well, hopefully that won't happen."

Tony frowned, sitting back. "Even if he doesn't agree we'll have to turn him back."

Barney nodded. "I agree. I think that even though it'll be difficult for him to understand as an adult he'll appreciate it."

Natasha left the room to go and get Clint. He came in looking wary but curious. She pulled him onto her lap, the first time she had done such a thing.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"Clint, remember how we told you you're supposed to be an adult?" Steve asked. Clint nodded. "Well in a few days you're going to turn back."

The boy's eyebrows came together. "I'm gonna be a grown up?"

"Yeah. You're gonna be a grown up."

"I don't. . . I don't understand. Am I gonna be the same?"

"You'll be the same. Just bigger."

Clint bit his lip.

"It's okay. You know I wouldn't let anything happen to you." Barney said, leaning forward.

Clint nodded. "I'm supposed be a grown up aren't I?"

"Yes, you are" Natasha said, putting her arms around him.

"You're a good guy as a grown up." Steve added.

"And a lot of people need your help." Tony added quietly.

"Okay. When am I gonna turn back?"

"Well, in a day or two. How about we have a party when the day comes. Cake and ice cream."

Steve smiled. "I think that would be a great idea."

Clint nodded, resting his head on Natasha's shoulder. He was afraid. On some basic level he knew it was the right thing but it didn't make him any less afraid.

Natasha ran a hand over the back of his head, fingers combing through his hair. She knew he was afraid but she also knew that restoring him to his proper age was the only option. She admired his courage.

Steve smiled kindly and even Tony and Bruce were affectionate.

"You know, Thor should be getting in tonight. Wanna stay up and wait for him?" Steve offered.

Clint bit his lip and smiled. "Yeah!"

"Great, how about no bed time tonight?"

"Oh good, I've been worried I was sleeping too much anyway." Tony said.

Ignoring him Steve lead the way into the living room where JARVIS put on 101 Dalmatians for Clint's amusement. Natasha relaxed onto the couch, holding Clint's hand and he sat between her and Steve.

"This is good." Steve said after a while.

Clint grinned. "Yeah!"

Barney, who was sitting on the other side of Natasha smiled warmly, feeling his time was ending. When Clint returned to normal there would be no need for him to stay and he would go. He almost didn't want his brother returned to normal. It was a selfish wish and his mind tried to reason it out. He tried to believe that it was because this was a second chance for his brother to have a childhood, he tried to believe that it was purely selfless but it wasn't. The truth was that he enjoyed being a big brother again, especially being a big brother whom Clint loved unconditionally and who didn't have years of differences and betrayals holding him back.

After the movie ended Clint talked Steve and the others into a game of uno but began to nod off after a while and not long after that, Natasha picked him up and sat with him on the couch.

It was around midnight that Thor returned, he came in through the window quietly and was surprised to see the others all sitting on the couch.

Natasha put a slender finger to her lips and smiled, motioning wither her eyes at Clint who was fast asleep in her lap.

Thor smiled widely. "Did you all stay up to greet me?" He asked softly.

"Clint wanted to." She said.

Thor beamed and set his hammer down.

"Why don't you take him to bed?" Natasha offered.

He lifted the boy from her gently. Clint was already in his pajamas, half way through a game of uno Steve had told him to go and change. As he headed towards the hall Thor saw the others watch him go, they sat in the dark illuminated by the glow of the television. He smiled to himself.

In the dark of the bedroom he tucked Clint into bed and brushed his hair back, stopping for a moment to smile.

When he returned to the living room the lights were back on and the tv was off. "I am touched that he wanted to wait for my return."

"Well, Pym is pretty close to fixing him and he's a little scared." Steve said.

Thor frowned. "I see. My heart goes out to him. Did the doctor say how long it would take?"

"Just a couple of days."

"Well, it is for the best."

There was a moment of silence and then Bruce cleared his throat. "I think I'll go to bed."

Tony nodded. "I got some stuff to do in my lab." Both of them left the room and headed off in different directions. Tony took the elevator to his lab and sat himself in front of a laptop. He had meant what he said about the party. He liked the kid.

"JARVIS, day after tomorrow. Have an order of fifteen pizzas delivered, three cakes one chocolate, one vanilla and one ice cream. Oh and order a couple tubs of ice cream."

"Are there any children I should notify of the party, sir? Perhapse Dr. Richards' children would like to attend. The party might be more enjoyable for Mr. Barton if there were other children his age in attendance."

Tony shrugged. "Sure." He dialed Ant-Man's number and Hank's face came up on a screen.

"Tony, what's going on?"

"Am I right to guess you'll have the particles stabilized and ready for use in about two days?"

"If things keep going at the rate they have been then yes."

"Alright, I just wanted to make sure."  
"Is something wrong?"

"No, no, I'm just checking in. I'll see you."

"All right then." Hank signed off and Tony sat back, eyes going to a disassembled repulser cannon.

"Sir, you have another call from Dr. Richards. I notified him of his family's invitation and he has returned my call."

Tony nodded an Reed's face appeared on the screen. "Tony, the kids are thrilled. They were up anyway and I told them. If you want any more kids I could send a message to the Power Pack. Franklin is pretty good friends with them."

"Yeah that'd be fine. The more the merrier."

Reed sat back in his chair. "Pym messaged me earlier. He said he was pretty close. I guess he was right in this instance."

Tony grinned. "You mad?"

"I was annoyed but then I got to thinking. . . it's not really fair to Hawkeye is it? We treated it like a game when we should have been taking his condition more seriously. We might even have figured it out sooner if we'd worked together. Sue told me off." Reed sighed. "They were Pym particles and at the end of the day he's the one who actually came and visited Barton. I shouldn't have been mad or made it into a competition like that."

Tony was silent for a moment. "Doesn't really matter. If you tried explaining it to him now he wouldn't understand and in a day or two he's going to be back to normal."

Reed ran a hand though his hair. "I feel bad about it. I just looked at the scientific angle. I didn't even bother to look at Barton like he was a little boy. I mean, I have kids. That should have been my first thought."

Tony grinned understandingly. "Don't beat yourself up. Your job was just to get him back to normal. It was out job here to worry about him being a little boy."

"Yeah, okay. I'll see you in a few days. Sue just got back with the kids from a new universe we discovered and they're day and night are reversed from ours. They all just woke up a few hours ago. I'm gonna go hide out and get some sleep. Night."

Tony shut the screen off and picked up the repulser cannon he'd been eying. He'd kept his head above water and knew it was best for Clint to return to adulthood but there was a lingering feeling of loss. He'd grown pretty fond of the kid.


	19. Chapter 19

The others planned the party quietly the next day. The kids in the Power Pack had agreed to come and Katie Power, the youngest was right around Clint's age. Steve thought that being around some other children would be good for Clint even if it was only for a day and he would be returned to his proper age shortly after. Pym called around noon to tell them that the particles were safe to use on a human being. (He had tested them on himself, something Reed called reckless and Bruce and Tony had to diffuse another argument.)

In a small conclave Tony explained that it would be best to return Clint to his natural age after the party. He reasoned that Clint would be on an emotional high and would be most likely to agree without a fuss and added that they should end on a bang.

The others agreed. "Things will go back to normal." Natasha said to Steve when they were the last two in the room. Clint was playing with Barney and Thor in the living room.

"Well that's a good thing."

"I know." Again she felt wickedly selfish for being sad.

"Barney told me he's got his stuff packed. He says he doesn't expect to stick around long once things are normal."

"No, he wouldn't. He's not an Avenger and I don't think he has any conflicts about that." She expected him to stay just long enough to make sure Clint was okay and then leave. It was the way things were and the way they were supposed to be and Barney Barton was not supposed to be in the Avengers tower.

Clint spent most of the day with only the vague notion of the party, Tony had given him few details, trying to keep it a surprise. He played happily with Thor and his brother. Steve and Natasha stepped out to go make rounds in the city and Bruce and Tony were busy with their own work.

Thor was pleased to see How fond everyone had grown of the boy. He had been right to suspect that underneath the child's timid demeanor lurked a curious and adventurous spirit. Clint loved his tales of epic deeds and liked playing pretend sword fighting. He even fashioned a miniature bow and arrow set for the child which he took to his brother, asking for lessons.

Out on rounds Steve and Natasha set about discussing Clint's return to adulthood. Steve said he was glad that they could give him a happy send off. Natasha agreed. She was beginning to feel glad things were going back to normal. The whole thing with Clint had made her feel distinctly vulnerable. Not necessarily a bad feeling but a foreign one none the less.

They flew over town in a quin jet, periodically checking police scanners and listening to radio waves. "He's going to have a lot of work to make up." Steve joked.

"Okay, drill Sargent."

He smiled. "I'm just kidding. It's not his fault."

She smiled and took the jet low over a scene of red and blue flashing lights. "Ringmaster at ten o'clock. You want to go or should I?"

He looked out the window at the man below and cringed. "Ehh. . . I'll sit out. You go head."

She smirked. "Fine but you get the next one and I hope it's Stilt-Man."

He laughed and took over the controls. "That hurts."

Back in the tower Clint was down in the gym with his brother and Thor learning to shoot the child sized bow. He was delighted whenever he hit the target, even though he never made a bulls eye. He sat around playing with his new toy. Thor had fashioned several blunt arrows for him while he was away, they weren't particularly deadly but they could bruise. The ends were bound in cloth and could not puncture the target. At first Clint had been disappointed by that but in a short span of time he had forgotten his disappointment.

Barney laughed and showed off a few more trick shots. Clint attempted to mimic them but only managed to spin around goofily.

Thor laughed and clapped. "A fine attempt, young Hawk. When you return to your normal self I guarantee that you will be doing all these and more."

Clint smiled, a jolt of worry going through him when Thor mentioned the return to adulthood. Try as they had the others had not really been able to explain it in a way that made sense. He didn't know what to expect and he was scared but he didn't want them to know that. So instead he laughed and tried to focus on playing with the bow and his brother.

As the hours wore on he began to grow tired and they returned to the penthouse and turned on a movie. With the secret out Barney turned on the movie Hercules. Clint enjoyed it and Thor was enthralled by the characters, laughing heartily at Pegasus.

When Steve and Natasha returned later in the night, they sat down and watched the end of the movie. Clint told them about the bow and his time down in the gym, laughing when Natasha recounted her easy defeat of the Ring Master.

They sat and watched until Bruce and Tony emerged from the labs and called for dinner. Pepper joined them that night and Clint was happy to see her. She was one of the few people other than the Avengers he had seen and the only woman. He was shy around her but still beamed when she looked at him.

They finished out the evening with a pleasant dinner, Clint sitting next to Natasha the whole night. He kept scooting closer to her, eventually leaning his head against her shoulder. She shifted to make him more comfortable and he smiled up at her. "Will you be sad when I'm gone?" He asked softly.

She gazed at him steadily. "Yes." It was an honest answer. He wasn't really leaving her but she would miss him just the same.

He nestled his head into her shoulder and then smiled contentedly. "Are you going to fall asleep?" She asked.

He nodded slightly, feeling sleepy and safe. "I'll take you to bed. Your party is tomorrow, and you'll want to be rested for it."

At the moment his mind was too fuzzy to connect that the end of his party would mean his last night with them. He dropped off to sleep against her shoulder, warm and comfortable and she picked him up and carried him off to bed.

As she lay him down he opened and closed his mouth and she felt a jolt run through her. She would truly miss this. She would miss being to gentle with another person and she would miss another person believing so firmly that she was gentle. She brushed the hair back from his forehead and watched him for a long moment, sitting at the foot of his bed and struggling with herself.

After a long time Steve came and stood in the doorway, he watched them quietly. "You okay?" He asked after a while.

She blinked to clear her mind, a vulnerable act she didn't like. "Yes."

"You're gonna miss him, aren't you."

She nodded. "I'll miss the way I feel when I'm with him."

He averted his eyes, giving her emotions some privacy. He opened his mouth but paused and then shut it and crossed the room to put a hand on her shoulder. He couldn't tell her that he was sure she'd feel this way again, he didn't know she would and in all likelihood she wouldn't. So instead he sat with her and watched Clint sleep for a moment before guiding her out. '' 'Come on." He said quietly.

They returned to the living room where Bruce and tony were sitting talking to Thor.

Tony looked up. "He still asleep?" He asked.

Steve nodded.

"Good, I want to tell you guys how we're going to do tomorrow." They all looked up. "I've built a chamber down in the med-lab for containment. Tomorrow after the party we'll go down there and Clint will lie down in the chamber. I'll seal it up and then I'll release the particles into the chamber. It's big enough that he'll have room to grow. Anyway, that should take care of it. Pym said it will probably take him up to twenty-four hours to wake up and he'll have a fever for another twenty-four but other than that he should be back to normal."

There was a moment of silence.

"We should probably move him to a hospital room when he's back to normal." Bruce said. "I spoke to Pym and he says this is the first time he's used the particles on another person, there could be differentials. I want to monitor him once he's back to normal."

"Yeah, that's a good idea. I'll set up a room." Tony said, jumping to his feet. "I've got everything set for the party tomorrow. I think he'll have a lot of fun." he swung his hands. "Well, I'm gonna go set up a room for him."

Steve watched him go and Pepper reached out a hand to him. "He's just a little thrown that it's happening so soon. He really does like Clint." She said gently.

There was another uncomfortable moment of silence and then Barney got to his feet. "I'm gonna finish packing." He said.

"Are you sure you don't want to stay for a few more days?" Steve asked, rising to his feet as well.

"Nah, this isn't really my place. I'll head home after he wakes up."

They nodded and shook hands. "Thanks for coming though."

"Anytime."

Natasha rose too and after a quick goodnight went to check on Clint again. This time when she opened the door it jolted him awake. She cursed, wondering if subconsciously she had done it on purpose. "Natasha?" He asked.

"Yes, little one." She said.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

She smiled sadly. "I was wondering if I could sleep with you tonight?"

He sat up in bed. "Did you have a bad dream?"

"Yes." She lied.

He nodded. "Then okay." He pulled back the overs for her and she climbed in. they both lay silently and eventually she was the only one awake and somehow she felt like crying.


	20. Chapter 20

Clint awoke the next morning to find Natasha gone but that was alright. He stretched out and sighed. It was his last day and he was afraid. Still he knew that there was nothing he could do. So instead he tried to think about the party. Tony had said he was inviting some other children. He thought that that could be fun. Swinging his legs out of bed he went and took a bath and eventually made his way down to breakfast, surprised when the door to the living room was closed.

Steve came around the corner and found him trying to open it. "Not yet." He said with a grin. "Party doesn't start until noon and Tony wants the decorations to be a surprise."

Reluctantly Clint turned away and followed him to the kitchen, taking his hand as he did. Steve gave his fingers a small squeeze, picking up on the boy's nervousness. They ate breakfast together and then Barney offered to take Clint to the park.

As they walked down the street, Clint began to feel a tightness in his chest. He felt like he'd been punched and as he thought more and more about what was to come the feeling grew worse until he felt a hot tear splash onto his wrist and he stopped in his tracks, crying.

Barney turned around in surprise and stopped. "Clint?"

But Clint's face was screwed up and he was crying, trying to stay quiet. Barney felt a sudden stab of pain and knelt down next to him. "Hey, what's wrong?" He poked at Clint's arm, trying to get his attention and Clint buried his head in his brother's chest.

"I-I know I have to g-go change but can you stay with me until I do?"

Barney put a hand on the back of his head and sighed. "Yeah. Of course." He put his arms around his brother and hugged him. "I'll stay with you. I promise."

Clint sniffed and the two of them relaxed. "I'm scared."

"I know. Who wouldn't be? But I promise that nothing scary is going to happen. I'll make sure of it."

Clint wiped his eyes and instead of going to the park the two of them went to a movie. It took less energy and Clint sat through it, leaning on his brother's shoulder.

After the movie Barney found a shopping mall and the two of them wondered around, killing time. Tony had told him to keep Clint occupied until noon so he would have time to get everything ready. He dragged his brother to a pet store and let him play with the puppies for a while. They wondered further through the mall, stopping to look in different stores until noon rolled around and rather than call Tony for a ride they took a cab.

With a few more minutes left to kill they walked around the block, Clint sitting on his brother's shoulders, laughing about the taxi driver's expression when they'd given him the address. When they made it up to the pent house there was noise coming from the living room. Putting his arms around his brother's head Clint held on nervously. It occurred to Barney that at this age Clint had never even had a birthday party.

Barney squeezed his brother's hand. "It's okay. You'll have fun."

A round of greetings met them as they stepped in. Barney felt Clint tighten his hold and slowly pried him off. "Go meet the other kids." He said.

Slowly Clint walked towards the other children. A little girl with pig tails greeted him with a smile. She introduced herself as Katie and took him to go and play with Franklin and Valeria Richards who were sitting near by messing with a holographic devise. Both of them greeted Clint enthusiastically.

Barney smiled and walked over to the adults, shaking hands with Reed Richards nervously. He was used to superheroes treating him suspiciously. He accepted it. Hopefully however, at the end of the night Clint would be back to normal and he could go back the apartment and all of the suspicious looks would be over.

Reed and Hank were talking rather aggressively about how hank had figured out how to manage the particles. Tony and Bruce listened with interest. Across the room Sue Storm was talking to Steve and Thor. Barney held back and watched them. Nearly everyone looked as though they were having a good time. After his initial shyness Clint was getting along well with the other children. Valeria RIchards in particular. He took a seat at the bar and watched the others. Eventually Natasha pulled herself away from a conversation and came and sat next to him.

"How are you?" she asked.

He shrugged. "I'm okay."

"Clint is having fun."

"Yeah, when he was little he got along pretty well with other kids. He changed a little in the orphanage but. . ." He made a made a motion with his hand to say what could you expect?

She poured herself a drink and nodded.

"I wanna stay with him tonight. I mean, he asked if I would. . ."

"That's fine. Bruce wants to keep him in the med lab for observation anyway. You can just stay in the room with him."

"Thanks. I'll be gone once he's back to normal."

She gave him a long look through very beautiful eyes and Barney saw again why Clint had gone so crazy for her. "It hasn't been bad having you here and I think the others have a new respect for you."

He smiled slightly over his drink. "You think?"

"Yes."

He sat back. "I kind a feel like I got a second chance."

She leaned forward. "I feel like I got a chance too." She smiled and laughed. "I almost wish it could last." It was something akin to confession for her to say it aloud. A part of her had even kept from stringing the words together in her mind.

He looked at her and somehow understood. "Yeah."

They sat in silence, watching the party. Clint had become pretty good friends with Katie Power and was now locked in a game of virtual race cars with Franklin Richards.

She laughed as the children cried out in delight and Barney found himself laughing as well.

Across the room Tony was sitting with Bruce, Reed and Hank. They had moved on from the particles to another subject and were fostering some serious academic tension.

As the party wore down and the younger kids began to wear out, Reed and Sue gathered up Franklin and Valeria and reminded the kids from the Power Pack that they needed to get home before ten. Tony asked the kids if they wanted to fly in a Quin Jet and when Katie and Jack clamored at the idea he set up a jet for JARVIS to fly over for them.

After a quick clean up, Tony sat down at the bar and folded his hands. Clint was dozing on the couch. He glanced around at the others and cleared his throat. "It's after ten."

Hank Pym stood against the wall, arms folded. He felt a prickle go down his spine as all eyes glanced suddenly in his direction and the quickly away.

Barney brushed Clint's bangs back with a finger and scoped him up. "Okay."

Everyone followed Tony down to the med lab where he opened the doors to a room he'd refitted for Clint. Behind a glass window was a long glass cylinder with a bed in it. Pym fitted a cannister containing the particles into the side and waited.

With some hesitance Tony gestured towards the cylinder. "Clint goes in there, Pym releases the particles into the chamber and he returns to normal." There was a heavy pause as all eyes fell to Barney.

He sighed and gently nudged his brother. "Hey, time to wake up." He whispered.

Clint opened his eyes slowly and looked around. "Where am I?" He asked.

"You're in the med lab." Steve said, crouching down.

Clint rubbed his eye and looked up at the chamber. "Is the party over?"

"Yeah."

The boy bit his lip. "And I gotta go?"

"You don't have to go, but you do have to grow up again."

Clint hung his head, eyes downcast. Steve squeezed his shoulder. "Hey, it's alright. You'll go to sleep and when you wake up everything will be normal."

Clint shook slightly and put his arms around Steve, hugging him tightly. "I don't wanna."

"I know, but you gotta."

There final way he said it seemed to strengthen the boy and he sniffed. "I know."

He then went and gave each member of the team a hug, ending the circle with his brother. Hank held back to give them some privacy. When he was done Tony opened the cylinder and patted the bed. "You climb up here, take off your clothes and get under the blanket." Clint gave him a curious look through his tears. "Your clothes won't fit when you turn back."

The boy nodded and climbed up on the bed, pulling his shirt off and then his pants. The others turned their backs to give him some privacy. When he was done Natasha drew up the blanket to his chin and just as she hesitated over him he leaned up and kissed her chin. She smiled warmly and kissed his forehead, smiling sadly at the way he blushed. "Goodbye little one. I'll see you in the morning."

He nodded and she drew back, a tight pain in her chest.

Steve gripped his hand and squeezed as Tony lowered the lid of the cylinder. "See you in the morning, man."

As the chamber was closed Tony pressed a button a gas was released. Clint's eyelids drooped and with one last look at team he closed them.

"You're putting him under?" Steve asked.

Tony nodded. "It was painful the first time. Hank says it shouldn't be this time but I don't want to take any chances. Ready when you are." he said, nodding to Hank.

Hank pressed a button, releasing the particles in the chamber. He then moved to stand behind the pane of glass with the rest of the Avengers. They watched silently as Clint's body began to grow, his features lengthening, his body gaining muscle. After a few minutes a grown man lay in the cylinder, fast asleep.

An audible sigh ran through Avengers and quite suddenly everything was awkward. It was no longer a little boy in the chamber, it was their team mate. Bruce cleared his throat and took a step back, Hank rushed forward and opened the chamber, taking his pulse and then peeling Clint's eyelids open to check his pupils. "He's fine. When he wakes up we'll know if he's completely back to normal. You want to move him to another room?"

Tony nodded and came around to help move Clint to a gurney. "Thor, we could use some muscle here." Thor came around as well and with a strange look helped them move the gurney to a second room. They deposited Clint on the bed and draped a hospital gown over him. Bruce took a moment to hook up an iv just in case and then they stepped back. "All good." Tony said.

There was an awkward moment where no one seemed to know what to do and then Barney took a seat in a chair near the bed and sighed. "I'm gonna stay here. He asked me to."

The others nodded and Steve squeezed his shoulder as they filed out. It would be a long night.


	21. Chapter 21

Clint's head hurt when he awoke the next morning. There were no windows and he was grateful for that. He didn't think his head could have taken the light. He winced and looked over at his brother sitting by the end of the bed. Barney was asleep, his head resting on his fist. Clint watched him for a minute before carefully removing the iv and sliding out from under the covers. He picked up a t-shirt and a pair of sweat pants someone had folded over the end of the bed.

With a last glance at his brother he crept out, taking the stairs. He crept into the living room and stood barefoot, looking out the window. It was night out and he felt hot. He had a fever. He leaned his head against the glass, cooling it.

His head hurt and God, he had made a fool of himself! He had cried in front of Captain America and pretty much all the rest of the team. He felt humiliated. His face was burning. He scrunched it up and swallowed hard.

A noise behind him made him check the reflection in the glass. It was Natasha. "Clint?" She asked softly.

"Hey." his mouth was dry.

"Are you feeling okay?"

"Yeah." he didn't want to see her. He had cried and asked her to sleep in the same bed. God, he couldn't think of anyone he hadn't embarrassed himself in front of. He turned to take a step but lost his balance. The fever was making him dizzy.

Natasha caught his elbow. "It's okay. Be careful." She lead him to the dark couch. "Sit down."

He did as he was told, putting his head in his hands. "God, Nat."

She sat down next to him. "What's wrong?"

"I-I just. . ." He scrubbed at his face. He felt an overwhelming sense of shame and he couldn't explain it. He had never meant to be so emotionally open with these people. He felt like he didn't have any secrets and now everyone was going to look at him differently. He shook and rubbed at his eyes with his palms.

She understood. Some primal part of her understood and she felt embarrassed too. "I'm sorry." She said softly. She watched him cry and it was so much worse. She knew everyone cried but it was so much worse to see a grown man cry than a little boy. It was raw and unnerving. She looked away. It was too personal.

He looked up at her, face contorted with misery. "You guys were so nice to me. . ."

She closed her eyes and let her face become impassive. She had to control herself, seeing him like this hurt. "Of course we were."

"You didn't have to be."

"Would you expect anything else?"

He looked down. He felt like he'd asked a stupid question. "No, of course not."

"No one thinks less of you."

"But they're gonna think differently about me."

"Probably for a while."

He hung his head. "What about you?"

"I can separate the little boy from who you are now, if you want."

He studied her. Of course she could. He didn't know anyone else that in control of their own mind. "I dunno."

"I think for now I will." She took his hand and held it. "It won't take long for the others to feel the same way."

"They know a bunch of stuff I never wanted them to know."

"Yes, and they won't forget. But eventually they'll think of it less."

He looked at her and it chilled her because he was looking at her like she was a life line.

She straightened her back. "Clint, you don't need to be ashamed. You were a little boy. You're a grown man now."

"I feel like a little kid." He said softly.

She sighed and rested her head on his shoulder, trying to convey that in no way was he a child. She tried to appeal to his size and physicality. She tried to make him understand without speaking. "It will be okay."

He cried into his palms. He felt so open and exposed. She leaned against his shoulder, sighing gently as she realized that there was little more she could say.


	22. Chapter 22

The next few days were uncomfortable. Nobody seemed to know where to stand around Clint and for most of it Tony and Bruce retreated into their labs. Barney quickly said his goodbyes and after Hank had done his last check ups he left too. Steve was quickly pulled away on a mission and Natasha kept her distance.

Strangely enough Clint felt more at ease. His initial fear had been that everyone would keep treating him like child. This way they didn't get the chance. He ran a few missions. Fought a few supervillains. Somehow nothing seemed different. He busted two ribs and sprained his writs. Things were normal.

But eventually everyone was in the tower again. Clint was sitting at the kitchen table playing a gameboy. He'd taken the day off after he'd cracked his fourth rib. Steve, Thor and Tony walked through the kitchen door at once. It was the first time Clint had been in a room with so many of them. Through sheer embarrassment he'd been avoiding Steve the most.

There was a pause and then with a great force of effort he greeted them. "Hey."

Tony nodded but didn't make eye contact. Thor smiled but it looked sad and Steve. . . Steve poured himself some coffee and sat down.

"How are you?" he asked.

Clint looked up, slightly annoyed. "Fine." He said quietly.

"Do you not want to talk to me?" Steve asked.

The others pretended to be too busy with their lunches to hear.

"No. No, I just. . ." He couldn't think of anything to say. "it's not like that."

Steve nodded, his way of saying fair enough. "Okay. Then do you want to go do rounds this afternoon. Fly over New York,. Take it easy on those ribs?"

Clint sighed. No, he didn't but it wasn't Steve's fault. "Sure."

"Great. I've got a Quin Jet all warmed up."

Clint felt a pit form in his stomach. He was nervous. After eating he followed Steve out to the jet and they sat in silence. Clint twiddled his thumbs, playing with an arrow.

Steve played with the dials. Finally when the tension got too much he cleared his throat. "You know, it's not going to hurt for you to talk to me. Nothing's changed."

Clint looked up. "It hasn't?"

Steve turned to face him. "No. Maybe. It depends. Do you want things to be different?"

"No. I just thought. . ."

Steve sighed and tried not to think about the child from the week before. "I guess things are probably different but I don't think they're as different as you think."

Clint looked up. "Yeah, probably."

"Then what's wrong?"

He weighed his options. "I guess. . . I guess I'm embarrassed. I don't have any secrets"

Steve became very quiet. "Well that's an exaggeration but I get what you're saying."

Clint cracked a grin. "Yeah it is." He smiled for a moment.

"So cheer up, I'm not gonna treat you like a kid."

"Is it weird for you?"

"It's. . . not normal but I'll get used to it. And no ones gonna think any less of you because you got turned into a kid who was scared."

Clint shrugged and returned to playing with the arrow. "It's just weird."

"Things will go back to normal. And if it counts, I think that you being a kid did some good. I'm not sure how or what kind but I think good came of it just the same."

Clint watched him and shrugged. "You're right." He moved to sit at the controls next to Steve. "I never did get to give Barney your autograph."

"That's okay. It would probably have just ended up on ebuy anyway."

Clint laughed. "Probably. Oh, and Cap?"

"Yeah?"

"It's eBay."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So as this was written back between 2014-2015 it's been some years since I wrote it but honestly I'm pretty happy with it, this story was so much fun to write and all of the people who made suggestions and helped come up with ideas along the way made it so enjoyable. If I were to actually go back and change things, the only thing I think i would really do it clean it up a bit. I'm pretty happy with this story. Thanks to everyone who read it all the way through! I hope you guys enjoyed it! I'll be posting the one I wrote for Black Widow next. It'll be a little different though, my goal with that story was to create a more complicated kind of deaging story and was explore the idea of childhood. If you're interested, check it out!


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